Interoceptive awareness in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Summary & key facts

This 2018 study asked whether adults with ADHD can notice their bodily signals (interoceptive awareness). The researchers compared 24 adults with ADHD to 23 adults without ADHD. They used a heartbeat perception task (an objective test) and a questionnaire (a subjective test). Both groups performed similarly on both measures. The authors say these results suggest that interoceptive awareness is preserved in adults with ADHD.

Key facts:

• The study was published in PLoS One in October 2018 (Wiersema & Godefroid).
• The research compared 24 adults diagnosed with ADHD and 23 control participants without ADHD.
• Interoceptive awareness was measured in two ways: an objective heartbeat perception task and a self-report questionnaire.
• Results showed no meaningful difference between the ADHD and control groups on the heartbeat task or on the questionnaire.
• The authors conclude the findings suggest preserved interoceptive awareness in adult ADHD, meaning adults with ADHD in this study did not show reduced awareness of bodily signals.

Abstract

ADHD is considered a disorder of self-regulation. Recent research has shown that awareness of bodily states, referred to as interoceptive awareness, crucially contributes to self-regulatory processes. Impaired self-regulation in ADHD has been explained in terms of arousal regulation deficits in ADHD (the state regulation deficit (SRD) account). There is now ample support for the SRD account, however the exact reason for arousal regulation difficulties is not yet known. The SRD account explicitly refers to the ability to monitor one's momentary bodily state as a prerequisite for effective state regulation. However, surprisingly, no study to date has tested the ability to become aware of bodily signals, i.e. interoceptive awareness, in ADHD. In the current study, we therefore compared interoceptive awareness between 24 adults with ADHD and 23 controls by means of both an objective (heartbeat perception task) and subjective measure (questionnaire) of interoceptive awareness. Results revealed a strikingly similar performance for both groups on both measures, suggesting preserved interoceptive awareness in adult ADHD.

Topics

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Psychiatry and Mental health

Tags

Arousal Attention deficit Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Clinical psychology Cognitive psychology Developmental psychology Interoception Neuroscience Perception Psychology Self-awareness Social psychology