Osteopathy and Mental Health: An Embodied, Predictive, and Interoceptive Framework

Area of Science:

• Integrative medicine
• Neuroscience
• Psychosomatic medicine

Background:

• Mental and musculoskeletal disorders have high global prevalence and comorbidity.
• Person-centered care addressing psychosocial factors is advocated for persistent physical and mental health conditions.
• Multidisciplinary collaboration between mental health and musculoskeletal specialists is crucial for effective care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an embodied, predictive, and interoceptive framework for osteopathic person-centered care.
• To explore the potential benefits of osteopathy for mental health outcomes in patients with comorbid conditions.
• To provide a theoretical basis for future research on osteopathy and mental health.

Main Methods:

• Building upon research from embodied cognition, predictive coding, and interoception.
• Developing a hypothesis on how osteopathic treatment may influence generative models of pain and depression.
• Utilizing theoretical perspectives to inform future research and clinical practice.

Main Results:

• Hypothesizing that osteopathic treatment can generate interoceptive prediction errors.
• Suggesting that these prediction errors can update the generative model underlying pain and depression.
• Proposing that physical and mental symptoms may be reduced through active and perceptual inference.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework can inform future research on osteopathy and mental health.
• Osteopathy may offer a novel approach to reduce the burden of comorbid psychological factors.
• This perspective supports person-centered, multidisciplinary care for individuals with persistent physical and mental health problems.