OT and Interoception

Interoception is having a moment.

The skyrocketing popularity of the “8th sense” likely stems from its effectiveness in putting words to the importance of deep and personal sensations—like hunger, fatigue, raised heart rate, and pain.

But while these sensations seem universal, in reality there are vast differences with how—and to what degree—we each experience the components of interoception.

What’s especially interesting is how these differences relate to emotional regulation.

We are still in the early stages of this research, but early stage studies seem to be showing that interoceptive awareness can be improved. And, this improvement may possibly correlate with improved emotional regulation—even in individuals who are not explicitly working on emotional regulation.

In this 1 hour CEU course, we’ll look at a school based program that does just that: improves interoception and emotional regulation.

After we review the article, we’ll welcome to the podcast Kelly Mahler OTD, OTR/L the lead author of the paper and one of the pioneers of researching the practical implication of interoception for OTs and other health professionals.

1. You will be able to identify assessments OTs can utilize related to interoception.

2. You will be able to recognize research-backed interoception interventions.

• Intro and breakdown of journal article

  • Intro

  • What is interoception?

  • Interoception and emotional regulation

  • Emotional regulation in schools

  • What was the intent of this research?

  • What were their methods?

  • Results, article discussion and conclusion

  • Intro to Kelly Mahler

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (50 minutes)

  1. How did you become interested in interoception?

  2. How did the Interoception Curriculum come to be?

  3. What were your impressions of the article?

  4. How do you describe interoception now?

  5. How does interoception fit into a strengths-based approach?

  6. What settings is the Interoception Curriculum being used in?

  7. What does it take to bring the curriculum into schools?

  8. What is one high-impact interoception intervention every OT can use?

  9. Where do you hope to see interoception in five years?

Primary

• An interoception-based intervention for improving emotional regulation in children in a special education classroom: Feasibility study

Additional

• Impact of an interoception-based program on Emotion Regulation in autistic children

• Relationships between alexithymia, interoception, and emotional empathy in autism spectrum disorder

Supplementary Materials about Interoception (Free resources from our guest)

• Interoception Videos

• Interoception Blog

• Interoception Printables (must sign up for mailing list to download)

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Kelly Mahler sells the Interoception Curriculum and related resources through her website, and teaches AOTA-approved courses on this topic. She is also lead author of the primary journal article explored in this course, which evaluates her curriculum.