Page 66 - JCBP-2-1

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Exteroceptive/interoceptive processing

Table 4. Post hoc pairwise comparisons between HC and PSY‑T1 performed after the significant MANOVA results for these two
groups
Variable PSY‑T1 (mean±SD) HC (mean±SD) Mann–Whitney U P‑value Bonferroni–Holm P‑value
AASP
Low regulation 32.83±7.84 28.22±6.90 3343.0 0.005* 0.05*
Sensory seeking 50.04±9.35 48.87±8.06 2643.5 0.559 1.152
Sensation seeking 40.30±11.48 38.26±11.48 2703.0 0.438 1.152
Sensation avoidance 39.35±9.36 35.37±8.02 3021.5 0.073 0.511
MAIA
Noticing 3.82±0.91 2.97±1.17 3499.5 <0.001* 0.012*
Not distracting 2.23±0.97 2.04±0.81 2731.0 0.384 1.152
Not worrying 2.07±1.11 2.60±1.09 1730.5 0.019* 0.153
Attention regulation 3.17±1.15 2.89±0.92 2973.0 0.101 0.606
Emotional awareness 3.82±1.10 3.29±1.08 3208.0 0.017* 0.153
Self-regulation 2.98±1.34 2.66±1.09 2878.0 0.181 0.8
Body listening 3.24±1.11 2.39±1.15 3499.0 <0.001* 0.011*
Trusting 3.70±1.23 3.37±1.14 2897.5 0.160 0.8
Note: *P≤0.05.
Abbreviations: AASP: Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile; HC: Health controls; MAIA: Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness;
PSY-T1: Scores of patients with psychosis during post-acute phase; PSY-T2: Scores of patients with psychosis during remission phase; SD: Standard
deviation.

found higher “Noticing” scores in PSY patients compared and “Body listening” scores. This imbalance indicates
to HC but only during the post-acute phase. Thus, the that individuals experiencing post-acute psychosis exhibit
inconsistent findings regarding heightened sensitivity to an intensified focus on internal cues at the expense of
internal stimuli shown by patients might be attributed processing external sensory inputs. A consequence of this
to the state feature of the perceptual profile. A similar shift in attention is the disruption of the multisensory levels
pattern was observed for MAIA “Body listening” scores. where perceptual cues are typically integrated . The link
[43]
The “Body listening” domain refers to the ability to actively between attributing an excessive valence to internal stimuli
pay attention to internal signals and sensations, such as compared to external ones and psychotic symptoms holds
heart rate, breathing, and muscle tension. It involves a an intuitive aspect. Hallucinations and delusions frequently
deeper level of engagement with these sensations, where stem from the ascription of aberrant salience to internal
individuals actively tune in and listen to internal bodily mental processes, overpowering the ostensibly “objective”
[20]
sensations . By integrating these considerations, we can external reality [44,45] .
conclude that awareness toward internal states is altered
in both its passive and active components during the 4.3. Beyond the present: perceptual disorders and
post-acute phase of psychosis, where symptoms are more self-continuity
pronounced. In PSY patients, perceptual components that are more
subject to change (“Noticing,” Body listening,” and “ Low
4.2. Integrating interoception, exteroception, and regulation”) increase during the post-acute phase and
psychosis tend to align with the values observed in the HC group
Contrary to our expectations, differences between PSY during the remission phase. Interestingly, no interceptive/
patients and HC in the “Low registration” domain were exteroceptive score shows differences in the opposite
evident during the post-acute phase but not during direction, that is, differences between PSY patients and HC
remission. “Low regulation” refers to the tendency to during the remission phase but not during the post-acute
overlook external sensory stimuli , a phenomenon phase. These initial results indicate that both interoceptive
[8]
well-documented in psychosis . In this context, we and exteroceptive scores tend to normalize during the
[21]
observed that this reduced awareness or responsiveness remission phase. This phenomenon can be understood by
to the external environment contrasts with the heightened considering that the impact of perceptual signals on the
interoceptive sensibility measured using the “Noticing” self is not only strong but also dynamic [46,47] .

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 7 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.1764