Listen to Your Body? What Interoception Looks Like for Autistic and ADHD Brains

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"Listen to your body" shows up everywhere in wellness advice, and for about half of autistic adults it asks for something the nervous system might not be delivering in a usable format. Elevated in the ADHD community too. This is a look at interoception, alexithymia, and why body awareness instructions can leave some of us feeling kinda left out.

I spent close to twenty years trying to feel what teachers, guides, and books kept describing, through meditation, yoga, mindfulness classes, and somatic workshops, and nothing transferred into a sensation I could locate or name. There's a reason for that, and it has a name.

Interoception is how the nervous system detects and interprets internal signals like heartbeat, hunger, thirst, temperature, and the physical sensations we sometimes label as emotions, and it can run quite differently for a lot of neurodivergent people. In this episode I walk through the three dimensions of interoception, where alexithymia fits, what some of the research suggests about autism and emotion, and one small entry point you can try if "notice what's happening in your chest" has never worked for you.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Why "listen to your body" assumes something

0:33 Twenty years of trying to feel something

2:27 What interoception is and its three dimensions

4:59 How raw body data becomes emotion, and where alexithymia fits

7:47 A somatic class where I still couldn't do the thing

9:14 Why standard body awareness advice leaves some of us out

10:42 Seeing myself in the research, and what I can sense

12:48 An invitation to notice one signal you can detect

13:21 What's next, plus practice coaching

RESOURCES & LINKS:

• 2015 study identifying three dimensions of interoception (accuracy, sensibility, awareness) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051114002294
• Study on fewer than one in four healthy adults reliably detecting their own heartbeat under lab conditions https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309019285_Towards_a_psychophysics_of_interoceptive_processes_The_measurement_of_heartbeat_detection
• 2019 meta-analysis on alexithymia rates in autistic and ADHD adults https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924933818301779
• 2016 data on matched alexithymia samples and interoceptive accuracy https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945216300594
• Alexithymia associated with interoceptive differences https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5824617/
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About Audio and Video

This show is available as a video on YouTube. Some audio you are hearing is taken from the video versions that are recorded outside, and why there are some changes in the microphone quality.

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About

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation, and she is a trauma-informed certified coach. She is working towards her board certified coach (BCC) credential, and has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was made in British Columbia, Canada by Jen deHaan.

I respectfully acknowledge that I live and work on the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples, and honour the homelands of the Qualicum First Nation and the Snaw-naw-as First Nation, as well as the ties of the Snuneymuxw and K'ómoks First Nations. I would like to express gratitude to these and all First Nations for their continued stewardship of these lands and waters where I create these episodes.

DISCLAIMER:

Wired Divergent is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. If you're in crisis or need clinical support, please reach out to a qualified professional.

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