Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Generating Body Focus: A Stepping Stone to Emotional Awareness

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Embodiment in Psychotherapy

Abstract

‘Listen to your body’. ‘Follow your heart’. ‘Trust your gut’. In many songs and books, we are advised to pay attention to our bodily signals. But how important is it from a scientific point of view to be sensitive to this kind of information? The following chapter will highlight evidence supporting the link between the perception of physiological signals and the experience and regulation of emotions. Furthermore, potential pathways of enhancing interoceptive ability, by increasing self-focus, will be discussed. Also, ideas of how to implement these techniques in a clinical context will be suggested.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ainley, V., Maister, L., Brokfeld, J., Farmer, H., & Tsakiris, M. (2013). More of myself: Manipulating interoceptive awareness by heightened attention to bodily and narrative aspects of the self. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(4), 1231–1238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ainley, V., Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Fotopoulou, A., & Tsakiris, M. (2012). Looking into myself: Changes in interoceptive sensitivity during mirror self-observation. Psychophysiology, 49(11), 1672–1676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird, J., & Swabey, P. (2014). Decisive action: How businesses make decisions and how they could do it better. London: Economist Intelligence Unit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bornemann, B., & Singer, T. (2017). Taking time to feel our body: Steady increases in heartbeat perception accuracy and decreases in alexithymia over 9 months of contemplative mental training. Psychophysiology, 54(3), 469–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bucci, W., Maskit, B., & Murphy, S. (2016). Connecting emotions and words: The referential process. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 15(3), 359–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Citron, F. M., & Goldberg, A. E. (2014). Metaphorical sentences are more emotionally engaging than their literal counterparts. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26(11), 2585–2595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Critchley, H. D., Wiens, S., Rotshtein, P., Öhman, A., & Dolan, R. J. (2004). Neural systems supporting interoceptive awareness. Nature Neuroscience, 7(2), 189–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. New York: Grosset/Putnam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duquette, P. (2017). Increasing our insular world view: Interoception and psychopathology for psychotherapists. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 11, 135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, D., Berberich, G., Zaudig, M., Krauseneck, T., Weiss, S., & Pollatos, O. (2016). Interoceptive processes in anorexia nervosa in the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A pilot study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 7, 199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, D., Messner, M., & Pollatos, O. (2017). Improvement of interoceptive processes after an 8-week body scan intervention. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fogel, A. (2013). Body sense: The science and practice of embodied self-awareness (Norton series on interpersonal neurobiology). New York: WW Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Füstös, J., Gramann, K., Herbert, B. M., & Pollatos, O. (2012). On the embodiment of emotion regulation: Interoceptive awareness facilitates reappraisal. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8(8), 911–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galinsky, A. D., Magee, J. C., Inesi, M. E., & Gruenfeld, D. H. (2006). Power and perspectives not taken. Psychological Science, 17(12), 1068–1074.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grogan, S. (2016). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and children. New York: Taylor & Francis.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 9, 188–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunstman, J. W., Clerkin, E. M., Palmer, K., Peters, M. T., Dodd, D. R., & Smith, A. R. (2016). The power within: The experimental manipulation of power interacts with trait BDD symptoms to predict interoceptive accuracy. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 50, 178–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lange, C. (1887). Über Gemüthsbewegungen. Leipzig: Verlag Theodor Thomas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maister, L., Hodossy, L., & Tsakiris, M. (2017). You fill my heart: Looking at one’s partner increases interoceptive accuracy. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4(2), 248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moeini-Jazani, M., Knoeferle, K., de Molière, L., Gatti, E., & Warlop, L. (2017). Social power increases interoceptive accuracy. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, J., Brewer, R., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2017). Interoception and psychopathology: A developmental neuroscience perspective. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 45–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrin, F., Maquet, P., Peigneux, P., Ruby, P., Degueldre, C., Balteau, E., et al. (2005). Neural mechanisms involved in the detection of our first name: a combined ERPs and PET study. Neuropsychologia, 43(1), 12–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitesa, M., & Thau, S. (2013). Compliant sinners, obstinate saints: How power and self-focus determine the effectiveness of social influences in ethical decision making. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3), 635–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollatos, O., Gramann, K., & Schandry, R. (2007). Neural systems connecting interoceptive awareness and feelings. Human Brain Mapping, 28(1), 9–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schachter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, social and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69, 379–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang, Y.-Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 213–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weineck, F., Messner, M., Hauke, G. & Pollatos, O. (2018). Improving interoceptive ability through the practice of power posting: A pilot study. Manuscript submitted for publication.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Felicitas Weineck

Authors
  1. Felicitas Weineck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felicitas Weineck .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Embodiment Resources Academy (ERA), Munich, Germany

    Gernot Hauke

  2. School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Ada Kritikos

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Weineck, F. (2018). Generating Body Focus: A Stepping Stone to Emotional Awareness. In: Hauke, G., Kritikos, A. (eds) Embodiment in Psychotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92889-0_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation