"Interoception—the sense of the body's internal state—is often a casualty of chronic abuse. Survivors learn to ignore body signals: the hunger they couldn't satisfy, the exhaustion they couldn't rest, the fear they had to hide. Reconnecting with the body's wisdom is essential to healing."
What is Interoception?
Interoception is your “eighth sense”—the sense of your body’s internal state. While we commonly learn about the five external senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell), interoception is the sense directed inward, perceiving signals from within your body.
Through interoception, you perceive:
- Heartbeat and breathing
- Hunger and thirst
- Temperature
- Pain
- Fatigue
- Bladder and bowel fullness
- The physical sensations of emotions
It’s how you know you’re hungry, tired, anxious, or need the bathroom. It’s the body’s way of communicating its needs and states to consciousness.
Why Interoception Matters
Survival
Basic interoception keeps you alive:
- Hunger tells you to eat
- Thirst tells you to drink
- Pain signals damage
- Fatigue signals rest needed
Emotional Awareness
Emotions have physical signatures. Anxiety might feel like racing heart and tight stomach. Sadness might feel like heaviness in chest. Interoception is how you perceive these body components of emotion.
Emotional Regulation
Noticing emotions early—through their body signals—allows intervention before they escalate. Good interoception supports regulation; poor interoception means emotions aren’t noticed until overwhelming.
Decision-Making
“Gut feelings” are literally that—interoceptive signals that inform decisions. Some research suggests good decisions involve integrating these body signals with cognitive analysis.
Self-Awareness
Knowing how you feel physically and emotionally is foundational to self-awareness and identity.
Brain Regions Involved
Insular Cortex
The insula (particularly the anterior insula) is central to interoception:
- Receives signals from the body
- Integrates body state information
- Creates conscious awareness of internal sensations
- Connects body feelings to emotional meaning
Connected Regions
- Somatosensory cortex
- Anterior cingulate cortex
- Prefrontal regions
- Limbic structures
Trauma’s Impact on Interoception
Why Trauma Disrupts Body Awareness
Unsafe to Feel: In abuse, body signals may have been dangerous to attend to. Feeling fear when you couldn’t escape, hunger when you couldn’t eat, exhaustion when you couldn’t rest—it was safer to disconnect.
Dissociation: Disconnecting from the body is a survival strategy. When the body is in danger or experiencing overwhelming sensation, dissociation allows escape. But it also impairs interoception.
Chronic Activation: When the body is constantly in stress response, interoceptive signals may be overwhelming or confusing. Everything is activated; nothing is clear.
Signals Mean Danger: Body sensations became associated with threat. Racing heart meant danger was coming. Noticing the body meant noticing fear. The body became something to avoid.
Patterns in Survivors
Numbing: Not feeling much in the body. General disconnection from physical sensation. May not notice pain, hunger, or emotion until extreme.
Confusion: Difficulty interpreting body signals. All emotions might feel similar (“I feel bad but I don’t know what emotion”). Trouble distinguishing hunger from anxiety.
Overwhelm: When interoception does come through, it’s too much. Sensations feel overwhelming or threatening.
Disconnection: Feeling like the body is separate from “you.” Looking at your body as if from outside. Not feeling “in” your body.
Specific Impacts
Emotional Identification: Difficulty naming emotions because the body component is missing or confusing.
Eating Difficulties: Not recognizing hunger or fullness, leading to eating irregularities.
Self-Care Neglect: Missing signals for rest, hydration, or other needs.
Health Issues: Not noticing pain or illness symptoms until serious.
Emotional Regulation: Can’t catch emotions early because body signals aren’t perceived.
Reconnecting with the Body
Safety First
Interoception was disrupted for protective reasons. Rebuilding it requires:
- Current physical safety
- Emotional safety
- Gradual approach
- Not forcing
Gentle Body Awareness Practices
Body Scan Meditation: Slowly moving attention through the body, noticing sensations without judgment. Start brief and build gradually.
Mindful Movement: Yoga, tai chi, gentle stretching with attention to sensation.
Somatic Therapies: Approaches like Somatic Experiencing that specifically work with body awareness and trauma.
Daily Check-Ins: Pausing to notice body sensations throughout the day. What do you feel? Where?
Mindful Eating: Paying attention to hunger, taste, fullness.
Building Tolerance
- Start with neutral or pleasant sensations
- Build tolerance gradually
- Stop if overwhelmed
- Titrate exposure to body awareness
- Respect protective numbness while gently expanding
Professional Support
Therapy can help, particularly:
- Somatic Experiencing
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
- Trauma-informed yoga therapy
- EMDR with somatic component
- Body-oriented approaches
The Goal
Healing interoception means:
- Being able to notice body signals
- Tolerating physical sensation without overwhelm
- Using body information for emotional awareness
- Responding to body needs appropriately
- Feeling present in your body
It’s not about perfect awareness—it’s about good-enough connection that supports wellbeing and self-care.
For Survivors
If you feel disconnected from your body, have trouble identifying emotions, or miss body signals:
- This was protective. You learned to disconnect because the body held too much pain or danger.
- It’s not weakness or failure—it’s adaptation.
- The body can become safe to inhabit again.
- Reconnection happens gradually, at your pace.
- You can rebuild this sense with patience and support.
Your body holds wisdom. The disconnection that protected you can evolve into connection that supports you. Slowly, safely, the body can become home again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Interoception is your sense of your body's internal state—the ability to perceive signals from inside your body like heartbeat, hunger, thirst, temperature, pain, and the physical sensations of emotions. It's how you know you're hungry, tired, anxious, or need the bathroom.
Trauma can disrupt interoception in several ways: survivors may learn to ignore body signals (they weren't safe to attend to), dissociation can disconnect awareness from body, chronic stress can create constant activation making signals hard to interpret, and interoception may become associated with danger.
Emotions are experienced partly through interoception—feelings have physical signatures in the body. If trauma has disrupted body awareness, the physical component of emotion is harder to perceive. You might not notice the racing heart and tight stomach that signal anxiety.
Signs include: difficulty identifying emotions, not noticing hunger or fullness, delayed recognition of pain, trouble knowing when tired, difficulty distinguishing between emotions (all feel the same), missing body cues until extreme, and feeling disconnected from your body.
Practices that help include: body scan meditations, yoga, somatic therapies, mindful eating, noticing body sensations throughout the day, gentle exercise, and therapy approaches that incorporate body awareness. It's about rebuilding the connection gradually and safely.
Noticing emotions early (through their body signals) allows you to regulate them before they become overwhelming. Good interoception means catching the first signs of stress or emotion. Poor interoception means you don't notice until you're overwhelmed—making regulation much harder.
