The role of interoceptive and sensory engagement in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy's targeting of rumination follows the accepted neuroscience that characterizes depression vulnerability as due to increased activity in the brain's frontal regions, leading to overthinking and self-reference. Relying on frontal brain regions to solve emotional problems has the unintended consequence of limiting new information coming from our senses. While prefrontal brain function is certainly important, recent work suggests that it is precisely this sensory inhibition that locks our minds into states of suffering when alternatives are present. Sense foraging represents a framework for viewing interoceptive awareness as an important complement to the changes in cognitive processing that are associated with MBCT. Leveraging the ubiquity of sensory phenomena, Sense Foraging offers people multiple access points for engagement with contemplative mindsets and may seed sustained informal practices.