Interoceptive NeuroEmpowerment Scale: a trauma-informed measure of adaptive state ownership

The Interoceptive NeuroEmpowerment Scale (INES) is a trauma-informed clinical tool designed to track a person's moment-to-moment capacity to access and trust adaptive internal states. Rooted in contemporary neuroscience and systems memory theory, the scale offers a real-time, relational alternative to traditional affirmation or distress-based tracking tools. Rather than asking patients to endorse a belief, the INES invites them to rate how much of a chosen resilience state-such as calm, worthiness, or connection-feels internally available in that moment. This percent-based rating is designed to index the momentary accessibility and embodied accessibility of an adaptive internal state, reflecting the extent to which that state is experientially present and tolerable at a given time. Developed in response to stress-associated neuroplastic adaptations and documented negativity bias following trauma exposure, the INES is proposed as a structured method for pacing re-engagement with adaptive internal states within an individual's regulatory limits. Conceptually grounded in Hebbian plasticity, working memory processes, salience network function, and memory updating frameworks, the scale treats measurement as part of the therapeutic process. This paper outlines the theoretical rationale, proposed mechanisms, standardized administration guidance, and priorities for empirical validation necessary to evaluate the construct of adaptive state ownership.