Interoceptive deficits in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy

• Published in: PloS one 2019-05, Vol.14 (5), p.e0217237-e0217237
• Main Authors: Schultchen, Dana, Zaudig, Michael, Krauseneck, Till, Berberich, Götz, Pollatos, Olga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adult; Anxiety; Behavior modification; Behavior therapy; Behavioral medicine; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Depression (Mood disorder); Emotions; Female; Future predictions; Health psychology; Heart Rate; Humans; Interoception; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Neuroses; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - physiopathology; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - therapy; Physical Sciences; Psychiatry; Quantitative psychology; Recurrence; Recurrence (Disease); Research and Analysis Methods; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Signal processing; Signs and symptoms; Social Sciences; Surveys and Questionnaires; Therapy; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217237

Interoception is impaired in different psychiatric disorders and is also associated with emotions. Only one study could show a higher interoceptive accuracy (IAcc) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Based on the predictive coding system we assume contrary results, indicating a decreased IAcc in patients with OCD. So far, there is no study investigating the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy on IAcc in patients with OCD. Therefore, we hypothesize that patients with OCD improve their IAcc during the time course of therapy compared to healthy controls. Twenty-six patients with OCD from the Psychosomatic Clinic in Windach were examined in the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy. They were compared to 26 matched healthy controls. IAcc via the heartbeat perception task as well as questionnaire data (OCD-, depression- and anxiety symptoms) were assessed. Results showed that IAcc, OCD-, depression- and anxiety symptoms were attenuated in patients with OCD. Patients recovered in the time course of therapy regarding OCD-, depression- and anxiety symptoms. Interoceptive deficits did not change in the time course of cognitive-behavioral therapy. We demonstrated that IAcc is affected in patients with OCD and this deficit does not change during the time course of a standardized therapy. Future studies should investigate, whether an inaccuracy in perceiving one's bodily signals constitutes a risk factor for relapse. Further, it could be examined if IAcc can be increased via self- and body focus interventions in patients with OCD.