The role of interoceptive fear and sensibility in anxiety

Anxiety involves both bodily reactions and subjective feelings.Research suggests a positive link between heightened interoception -the perception of bodily signals - and experiences of emotions andanxiety. It has also been theorized that believing bodily signals to havenegative implications (interoceptive fear) can increase the awarenessof these signals, in turn increasing levels of anxiety. In this master’sthesis the goal was to assess this proposal. Self-reported fear of bodilysensations (interoceptive fear) and awareness of bodily sensations(interoceptive sensibility) were used to predict levels of anxiety. Theresults showed that all three variables were positively related and thatincluding interoceptive fear as a second predictor of anxiety in amultiple regression model attenuated the unique predictive value ofinteroceptive sensibility. Despite some limitations, such as the factthat some potential confounders could not be controlled for, and thatthe study was cross-sectional, the study highlights the importance ofconsidering fear and awareness of bodily sensations in anxiety