The cognitive model of BDD (Veale, 2004) proposes high levels of self-objectification (viewing and treating oneself as an object) as an important maintaining factor; however, to date this construct has not been empirically measured in this population. In addition, recent models of the self (Damasio, 2010) point towards the central role of interoceptive awareness (IA; the ability to identify bodily signals) in developing a sense of self. Low levels of IA have been associated to body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of self-objectification and interoceptive awareness in patients with BDD. Three groups of participants with BDD (n=14), anxiety (n=23), and non-clinical participants (n=23) completed a heartbeat detection task to measure levels of IA under two conditions: blank screen and while facing a mirror in order to also explore the impact of self-focus attention on IA. Levels of self-objectification and self-focussed attention were measured through self-report questionnaires. Statistical comparisons between groups indicated significantly lower levels of IA in the BDD group at blank screen only when compared to the non-clinical group. In the mirror condition the BDD group had significantly lower IA scores than both control groups. Furthermore, the BDD group reported significantly higher self-objectification than the non-clinical group, and there was a trend towards the group scoring at a higher level than the anxiety group. Across groups there was no significant relationship between levels of IA in either condition, and self-reported levels of self-objectification or self-focussed attention. The results support the role of self-objectification in BDD and points towards the potential contribution of somatoperception. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings, the limitations of the methodology employed, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

No description available.

Sexual trauma, in addition to being a human rights violation, harms people in numerous ways, including negative psychological and physical outcomes. Body-based interventions reduce sexual trauma symptoms, but limited information exists about how these interventions work. Researchers propose changes in internal body sensation awareness (i.e., interoceptive awareness; IA) as a potential mechanistic explanation. We are not aware of any studies testing that claim. Further, there is scant extant information on IA – sexual trauma relationships. Before evaluating mechanistic therapeutic hypotheses, studies need to test sexual trauma – IA associations. We focus on this understudied area here. Through a multi-method study (behavioral, self-report and qualitative data), we tested the associations between IA and sexual trauma among females. Aim 1: Characterize IA among sexual trauma survivors. We hypothesized that survivors would have significantly lower self-reported IA than existing literature. Aim 2: Quantify the amount of variance IA explains in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. We hypothesized that IA would predict significant variance in PTSD, such that increases in IA would predict increases in PTSD. We expected that an IA – dissociation symptom interaction would qualify that main effect via weakening it for survivors with higher dissociation. Aim 3: Through a moderated mediation model, test if IA mediates the sexual trauma – PTSD association. We hypothesized that IA would mediate that association. Further, we predicted that the IA – PTSD relationship would be moderated by dissociation: higher dissociation would attenuate the IA – PTSD association. In this manuscript, we report results from two samples: 1) University (n = 153), and 2) community (n = 21) participants. Given ongoing community participant recruitment, the following are university participant results. Aim 1: Self-reported IA is significantly lower among survivors than comparator samples. Aim 2: Behavioral IA explained significant variance in PTSD, though opposite to the direction we predicted: we observed that as IA increased, PTSD decreased. We observed a significant interaction between self-reported IA and dissociation in predicting declines in PTSD. PTSD symptoms were lowest among survivors with high dissociation and high IA. Aim 3: IA did not mediate the sexual trauma – PTSD association. We discuss clinical implications, limitations and future directions.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Syfte Att utvärdera om ålder, kön och tidigare kroppsbehandling i form av massage har betydelse för skattad upplevelse av kroppsmedvetenhet. Bakgrund Kroppsmedvetenhet beskrivs som en uppmärksamhet av inre kroppsförnimmelser. Det finns idag studier kring kroppsmedvetenhet och olika sjukdomstillstånd men det finns få studier om upplevelsen av kroppsmedvetenhet gällande ålder, kön och tidigare kroppsbehandling i form av massage. Design Pilotstudie i tvärsnittsdesign. Metod För att mäta kroppsmedvetenhet hos en normal population användes instrumentet Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness. Data insamlades våren 2014 genom utskick av webbenkät. Data från 45 personer bestående av 3 åldersgrupper bearbetades och analyserades med Mann-Whitney U test. Resultat Resultatet i denna pilotstudie visade ingen signifikant skillnad i upplevelsen av kroppsmedvetenhet beträffande ålder och kön. Det fanns dock en signifikant skillnad i varseblivningmellan personer som hade erfarenhet respektive inte hade erfarenhet av tidigare kroppsbehandling i form av massage. Varseblivning i formuläret handlade om frågor som gällde medvetenhet om obehagliga, behagliga och neutrala kroppssignaler Slutsats Kroppsbehandling i form av massage kan ha en positiv effekt på kroppsmedvetenhet.

Eine Vielzahl von Studien zeigt, dass die Valenz eines Reizes nicht nur das Entscheidungs- und Urteilsverhalten gegenüber diesem, sondern auch gegenüber nachfolgenden Reizen beeinflusst. Jedoch ist nicht ausreichend untersucht, wie eine solche kontextuelle emotionale Stimulation Einfluss auf nachfolgende Urteile und Entscheidungen einer Person nimmt. Repräsentativ für eine Vielzahl ähnlicher Prozeduren habe ich in der vorliegenden Arbeit jene funktionellen Mechanismen untersucht, die dem Einfluss der Valenz einer Stimulation auf nachfolgende bewertende Urteile unterliegen. Dabei habe ich mich auf das Paradigma des Projektiv Evaluativen Priming (PEP) konzentriert, in welchem die zu beurteilenden Reize emotional neutral sind. Die Ergebnisse des ersten Teils der Arbeit legen nahe, dass Priming durch supraliminal präsentierte Primes unabhängig von der Prime-Klasse (Wörter, Bilder von Umweltszenen, Bilder von Gesichtsausdrücken), zuverlässig auftritt. PEP ist deshalb nicht durch die Annahmen der Feeling As Information Hypothese erklärbar. Die Ergebnisse des zweiten empirischen Blocks zeigen außerdem, dass PEP besser durch eine im Rahmen der Dissertation entwickelte Theorie des Cognitive Emotional Compound (CEC) als durch das assoziativ-semantische Netzwerkmodell beschreib- und vorhersagbar ist. Im dritten Teil der Arbeit konnte ich beobachten, dass der Einfluss eines subliminal präsentierten Prime auf nachfolgendes bewertendes Urteilsverhalten mit dem zeitlichen Abstand zwischen Prime und Target (SOA), und darüber hinaus mit der Interozeptiven Bewusstheit der Person steigt. Diese Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass das Resultat der impliziten emotionalen Verarbeitung eines Reizes körperlich repräsentiert ist, und dass ein bewertendes Urteil über einen Reiz bzw. Compound, auf der subjektiven Wahrnehmung solcher valenzindikativen, körperlich verankerten Signale beruht. / Judgment and decision are biased by contextual emotional stimulation. However, it has not yet been sufficiently examined how this influence is mediated. Therefore, in this work I investigated the functional mechanisms that underlie the impact of the valence of a prime stimulus on subsequent evaluative judgments. Specifically, I focused on the paradigm of Projective Evaluative Priming (PEP), where the target stimuli that have to be explicitly evaluated are emotionally neutral. The results of the first part of the current work indicate that priming with supraliminally presented primes occurs reliably across diverse classes of primes (words, landscapes, pictures of facial expressions). These findings are incompatible with a core assumption of one of the most prominent theories about affective influence on judgment and decision, the Feeling As Information hypothesis (Schwarz & Clore, 1983, 2003). The findings of the second part show that supraliminal priming increases with the prime’s cognitive complexity, emotional intensity, and the participants’ cognitive resources during target processing. In contrast, priming decreases with the extent to which the participants allocate cognitive resources during prime processing. These findings indicate that PEP is better explained and predicted by the theory of the cognitive-emotional compound (CEC) than the prominent associative semantic network model (e.g. Bower, 1981). The CEC has been developed by the author within the current dissertation process. In the third part of the current work I observed that the impact of a subliminally presented prime on following evaluative judgment behavior increases with the temporal distance between prime and target (SOA), and with the participants’ interoceptive awareness, respectively. These findings suggest that the output of implicit emotional stimulus processing is (partly) embodied, and that the perception of the resulting valence-indicative somatic state provides the agent with information about the value of an event.

L’interocezione è definita come il senso della condizione fisiologica dell’intero organismo. Le sensazioni interocettive comprendono un ampio raggio di funzioni biologiche sia consce sia inconsce, e costituiscono la dimensione interna del nostro senso del Se. L’obiettivo primario di questa tesi è stato di capire come le percezioni interne del corpo siano in grado di modificare il nostro senso del se e come questi processi possano essere cambiati, modificati e alterati per migliorare il benessere psicofisiologico. Gli scopi di questa dissertazione sono stati 1) capire come gli input interocettivi sono processati e come contribuiscono al nostra percezione del se e al nostro benessere. 2) sviluppare nuove tecnologie per manipolare il sistema interocettivo al fine di promuovere il benessere. 3) testare queste nuove tecnologie interocettive su soggetti sani e su popolazioni cliniche. La tesi propone nuovi contributi sia teorici sia sperimentali. Nella sezione sperimentale, le tecnologie interocettive sono state testate per promuovere il benessere in popolazioni cliniche e non. I risultati hanno indicato che i trattamenti interocettivi possono promuovere il benessere nei soggetti sani e ridurre la severità dei sintomi in soggetti patologici (i.e., con dolore cronico) confermando la possibilità di manipolare la dimensione interocettiva per promuovere il benessere dell’individuo. / Interoception can be defined as the sense of the physiological condition of the entire organism (Craig, 2003). From this point of view interoceptive sensations entail a broad range of relevant biological functions that serve conscious and unconscious processes and constitute the embodied inner dimension of our sense of Self. The main objective of this thesis was to understand how the perceptions that arise from our body are able to shape our sense of Self and moreover, how these processes can be changed, modified, and altered to improve both our physiological both our psychological well-being. The purpose of this dissertation was 1) to understand how interoceptive inputs are processed and how they contribute to our self-perception and well-being. 2) to develop new interoceptive technologies to manipulate the interoceptive system to promote well-being. 3) to test these new technological applications on healthy and clinical populations. The thesis proposes both theoretical both experimental contributes. In the experimental section interoceptive technologies are tested to promote well-being in healthy and clinical populations. Results indicated that “interoceptive treatment” can both promote well-being in healthy subjects both reduce symptoms severity in clinical subjects (i.e. chronic pain) confirming the possibility to manipulate the interoceptive dimension to enhance healthy functioning.

La forte prévalence des troubles des conduites alimentaires (TCA) chez les jeunes femmes et les faibles taux de rémission suite à un traitement ont encouragé les chercheurs à mieux comprendre les facteurs impliqués dans ce trouble mental. L’un des premiers modèles à mettre l’emphase sur des traits de personnalité associés au développement d’un TCA a été proposé par Hilde Bruch (1962, 1973, 1978) et a toujours une grande influence dans la recherche actuelle. Le modèle de Bruch inclue trois facteurs, soit l’insatisfaction corporelle, l’inefficacité et la conscience intéroceptive. Le but de cette thèse est d’apporter un support empirique au modèle de Bruch. En se basant sur une revue extensive des écrits scientifiques, cette thèse vise aussi à déterminer si deux facteurs reliés, soit l’alexithymie et le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle face à l’adoption de conduites alimentaires saines, améliorent la précision du modèle dans la prédiction de symptômes de TCA. Pour répondre empiriquement à cette question, il était d’abord nécessaire de disposer d’un questionnaire évaluant le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle en lien avec les conduites alimentaires qui peut être utilisé dans tout le spectre de présentation des TCA. Ainsi, le Eating Disorder Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (EDRSQ) a été adapté en français et ses propriétés psychométriques ont été évaluées. Une analyse factorielle confirmatoire a révélé une structure bi-factorielle, soit le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle en lien avec l’insatisfaction corporelle et avec l’adoption d’une alimentation normative. Chaque échelle a démontré une bonne fiabilité ainsi qu’une validité de construit cohérente avec la théorie. Par la suite, la capacité des facteurs proposés par Bruch à prédire les symptômes de TCA a été évaluée et comparée à des adaptations du modèle découlant des écrits. Au total, 203 étudiantes de premier cycle universitaire ont complété les versions validées en français du Eating Disorder Inventory 2, du Eating Attitudes Test, et du Toronto Alexithymia Scale en plus du EDRSQ. Les résultats montrent que le modèle de Bruch explique 46% de la variance des symptômes de TCA. Alors que l’insatisfaction corporelle et la conscience intéroceptive démontrent chacun une contribution importante dans la prédiction des symptômes de TCA, il a été démontré que l’inefficacité présente seulement une contribution spécifique négligeable. Le modèle de Bruch est amélioré par la substitution de l’inefficacité par le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle tel que mesuré par le EDRSQ; le modèle explique alors 64% de la variance des symptômes de TCA. Finalement, cette étude démontre que l’alexithymie n’a pas de contribution spécifique dans la prédiction des symptômes de TCA. Ainsi, la combinaison d’une faible conscience intéroceptive, de l’insatisfaction corporelle et d’un faible sentiment d’efficacité personnelle en lien avec les conduites alimentaires est fortement associée aux symptômes de TCA dans un échantillon non-clinique de jeunes femmes. Finalement, les implications conceptuelles et cliniques de ces résultats sont discutées. / High prevalence of Eating Disorders (EDs) amongst young women and poor treatment outcome rates have urged researchers to better understand premorbid factors involved in the pathology. One of the first models to emphasize premorbid personality factors in order to explain eating disorders was proposed by Hilde Bruch (1962, 1973, 1978) and is still very influential in today’s literature. Bruch’s model included three factors, namely body dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness and interoceptive awareness. The purpose of this thesis was to provide an empirical validation of Bruch’s theoretical model. Based on the literature, this thesis also aimed to determine if two related concepts, namely alexithymia and eating self-efficacy, improved the accuracy of the model in predicting ED symptoms. To empirically answer this question, it was first deemed necessary to have an eating self-efficacy questionnaire that could be used within all the spectrum of ED pathology. Therefore, the Eating Disorder Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (EDRSQ) was adapted to French and its’ psychometric properties were assessed. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a bi-factorial structure, which were Body Image Self-Efficacy and Normative Eating Self-Efficacy. Both scales demonstrated evidence of reliability and theoretically consistent evidence of construct validity. Afterwards, Bruch’s factors ability to predict ED symptoms was assessed and then compared to empirically driven adaptations of the model. A total of 203 undergraduate females completed the Eating Disorder Inventory 2, Eating Attitudes Test, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale, as well as the EDRSQ. The results indicated that Bruch’s model accounted for 46% of the variance in eating symptomatology. While body dissatisfaction and interoceptive awareness both demonstrated an important contribution in predicting ED symptomatology, ineffectiveness was found to have a negligible specific contribution. Bruch’s model was improved by substituting ineffectiveness with eating self-efficacy as measured by the EDRSQ; it then accounted for 64% of the variance in eating disorder symptoms. Finally, this study demonstrated that alexithymia was not a specific predictor of eating disorder symptoms. Thus, a combination of lack of interoceptive awareness, body dissatisfaction and low eating self-efficacy is strongly associated with symptoms of eating disorders in a non-clinical sample of women. Finally, the conceptual and clinical implications of these findings were discussed.