title: Interaction effect of brooding rumination and interoceptive awareness on depression and anxiety symptoms.
abstract: Awareness of the body (i.e., interoceptive awareness) and self-referential thought represent two distinct, yet habitually integrated aspects of self. A recent neuroanatomical and processing model for depression and anxiety incorporates the connections between increased but low fidelity afferent interoceptive input with self-referential and belief-based states. A deeper understanding of how self-referential processes are integrated with interoceptive processes may ultimately aid in our understanding of altered, maladaptive views of the self - a shared experience of individuals with mood and anxiety disorders. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine how negative self-referential processing (i.e., brooding rumination) relates to interoception in the context of affective psychopathology. Undergraduate students (N = 82) completed an interoception task (heartbeat counting) in addition to self-reported measures of rumination and depression and anxiety symptoms. Results indicated an interaction effect of brooding rumination and interoceptive awareness on depression and anxiety-related distress. Specifically, high levels of brooding rumination coupled with low levels of interoceptive awareness were associated with the highest levels of depression and anxiety-related distress, whereas low levels of brooding rumination coupled with high levels of interoceptive awareness were associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety-related distress. The findings provide further support for the conceptualization of anxiety and depression as conditions involving the integration of interoceptive processes and negative self-referential processes.
authors: Kent State University, Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent, OH, USA. Electronic address: rlackne2@kent.edu.
authors: Ryan J
authors: RJ
authors: Lackner
authors: Kent State University, Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent, OH, USA.
authors: David M
authors: DM
authors: Fresco
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065812:Interoception; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Interoceptive awareness; Rumination; Self-referential processing