title: Interoceptive sensitivity deficits in women recovered from bulimia nervosa.
abstract: Self-report studies suggest that patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) evidence difficulties with interoceptive awareness. Indeed, interoceptive deficits may persist after recovery of BN and may be a biological trait that predisposes symptom development in BN. However, no studies to date have directly assessed interoceptive sensitivity, or accuracy in detecting and perceiving internal body cues, in patients with or recovered from BN. Nine women who had recovered from BN and 10 healthy control women completed the Heart Beat Perception Task (HBPT) in which individuals were required to estimate the number of heartbeats between intervals of time. Accuracy scores were compared between groups. Significant differences were found between the groups on the HBPT ((F1,19) = 7.78, p = .013, Cohen's d = 1.16) when controlling for age. These results suggest that deficits in interoceptive sensitivity are present in individuals recovered from BN. Thus interoceptive deficits may be one factor that bridges the gap between brain dysfunction and symptom presentation in BN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States. Electronic address: mklabund@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klabunde
authors.forename: Dean T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Acheson
authors.forename: Kerri N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Boutelle
authors.forename: Scott C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: Walter H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kaye
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Biological; Eating disorders; Heart Beat Perception Task; Neurobiology; Physiology