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WHAT IS INTEROCEPTION?
Interoception is fundamental to our experience of emotions. It works under the principle of embodied cognition – the idea that our thoughts and emotions are inextricably tied to our bodily states. Dr. Stephen Porges, the creator of the polyvagal theory, says it's the process by which the nervous system uses signals from within the body to support the maintenance of homeostatic functioning. He also notes that "interception becomes the foundation of physical, psychological and social development."
Interoception can be described as our perception and interpretation of internal body signals. These include heartbeat, hunger, HRV, and respiratory rate. Interoception serves as our internal barometer, guiding our responses to the environment based on our body’s needs and state.
When we are in pain mentally or physically, dissociation is a coping tool.
THE POWER OF OUR THOUGHTS
Chemical Cocktails called Hormones create confirming feelings in our bodies to match our thoughts:
When we simply think of our past or current trauma, these hormones are capable of initiating every physical and emotional response that we are able to experience.
The same is true of Brain scans using QEEG:
When we think of something happy- happy can be found in a brain scan.
When we think of something sad- sad can be found in the brain scan.
These downstream reactions can also be found in stomach aches, headaches, mystery pains, impaired HRV, gut dysfunction, brain fog, and more; when we experience these symptoms, we are more likely to check out and be unavailable to ourselves or our children.
IN MY EXPERIENCE
I share this to explain my next thought: I have 27 years of working w/ patients, from chronically ill in hospice who went on to thrive to NICU babies with no SSB coordination. Currently, my largest patient base is every iteration of childhood behavioral and physical health issues, neurodevelopmental delays/challenges, as well as Autistic non-speaking children.
Food reactivity/sensitivities (not just allergies) create enteric damage in the gut, potential leaky brain/neurological symptoms, and systemic inflammation, MANY TIMES with ZERO stomach or digestive challenges. (We have done 1,000's of food sensitivity tests, 100's of neurological antibody tests.)
Inflammation from food is real and is happening as soon as it goes into our mouths. Our brilliant memory cells know exactly what to expect, and behaviors can change almost instantly.
Back to interoception: No one wants to stay present in a body that is inflamed, setting off alarm bells🔥 in their nervous system that are telling them they are unsafe. The wrong foods for one's body CAN do this.
BRAIN-GUT AXIS
When the bidirectional, gut-brain, and brain-gut axis are now inflaming each other in the infinity circle, how can our interoception, essentially "a sense of oneself," be experienced when for survival, we are designed to checkout/escape using any means necessary. Yes, this is where mindfulness matters, of course!
THE UNDERLYING CAUSE
If I have no sense of myself, I will have no accurate sense of others or the world around me. Children are inflamed. They have blood markers and antibodies to show this. Let's talk about food as an underlying (at least coexisting) cause of behavior and illness for children and why so many have interoceptive challenges.
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