Interoceptive Ability and Emotion Regulation in Mind-Body Interventions: An Integrative Review

It is increasingly recognized that interoceptive ability, the capacity to detect, interpret, and consciously integrate signals related to the physiological condition of the body, is central to emotion experience and regulation. Interoceptive ability can be trained and improved through mind-body interventions. This article attempts to provide an integrative review of the link between interoceptive ability and emotion regulation in mind-body interventions. To this aim, (1) we address the constructs of interoceptive ability and mind-body interventions in relation to the double pathway of emotion regulation, and (2) we include a review of selected empirical and qualitative studies. These show that mindfulness meditation affects the brain-body axis through top-down processing, improving both interoceptive ability and emotion regulation. Interventions based on bottom-up processing through body movement and emotional expression are illustrated, but it is argued that they are still under-investigated. In light of the literature reviewed, we contend that interoceptive ability is a crucial aspect associated with the effects of mind-body interventions on emotion regulation. Additionally, we suggest that if studied through both quantitative and qualitative methods, interoceptive ability may serve as a general construct that allows a more integrated view of the polarities related to the spectrum of embodied experience: top-down and bottom-up emotion processing, observational and non-observational body awareness, conscious and unconscious level of interoception.