Interoceptive hypersensitivity and interoceptive exposure in patients with panic disorder: specificity and effectiveness.
BACKGROUND
Interoceptive exposure has been validated as an effective component of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of panic disorder but has hitherto received little research attention. We examined the effectiveness of various interoceptive exposure exercises using the Body Sensations Questionnaire (BSQ) (Chambless et al., 1984).


METHODS
We first performed an exploratory principal factor analysis of all the items contained in the BSQ to obtain meaningful dimensions of interoceptive fears. Next, we examined the correlations between each interoceptive exposure task's degree of similarity to panic attacks and each BSQ factor and then examined whether the BSQ factor scores decreased in comparison with the baseline values when the corresponding exposure tasks were successfully completed by the subjects.


RESULTS
The factor analyses revealed four factors, which we named "pseudoneurological fears", "gastrointestinal fears", "cardiorespiratory fears" and "fears of dissociative feelings." Among the nine interoceptive exposure tasks, 'hyperventilation', 'shaking head', 'holding breath' and 'chest breathing' were considered to reproduce pseudoneurological symptoms, 'breathing through a straw' was considered to reproduce gastrointestinal symptoms, and 'spinning' was considered to reproduce both pseudoneurological and dissociative symptoms; none of the interoceptive exercises were found to reproduce cardiorespiratory symptoms. Among each group of patients for whom 'hyperventilation', 'holding breath', 'spinning' or 'chest breathing' was effective, a significant improvement in the BSQ pseudoneurological fears factor scores was observed. On the other hand, no significant difference between the baseline and endpoint values of the BSQ gastrointestinal fears or the BSQ fears of dissociative feelings factor scores were observed among the patients for whom 'spinning' or 'breathing through a straw' was effective.


CONCLUSIONS
Several interoceptive exposure tasks were particularly effective in reducing pseudoneurological fears. New interoceptive tasks, especially tasks related to cardiorespiratory and dissociative feelings, are needed.
Lee
Kiyoe
K
Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan. kiyoesanr@m5.dion.ne.jp
Noda
Yumiko
Y
Nakano
Yumi
Y
Ogawa
Sei
S
Kinoshita
Yoshihiro
Y
Funayama
Tadashi
T
Furukawa
Toshiaki A
TA
D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome