Interoceptive Accuracy, Sensitivity, and Attention are Associated with Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

Although significant research has focused on suicide, surprisingly little examines the role of interoception, or the perception of bodily states. We examined associations between dimensions of interoception and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). This online study (N = 450) assessed interoceptive accuracy, sensitivity, and attention as well as STBs. People with recent STBs reported: perceiving body sensations less accurately (i.e., lower interoceptive accuracy), difficulty perceiving lower intensity sensations (i.e., lower interoceptive sensitivity), and paying more attention to sensations (i.e., greater interoceptive attention). Interoceptive sensitivity moderated the association between negative affect and recent suicidal behaviors, such that people with lower interoceptive sensitivity (i.e., difficulty perceiving lower intensity sensations) were more likely to report suicidal behaviors at all levels of negative affect, whereas people with higher interoceptive sensitivity were more likely to report suicidal behaviors only at high levels of negative affect. Interoception may represent an important, underexamined process for understanding STBs.