Interoception and Women’s Health

Dear Colleagues,

Men have historically been treated as the default patient in clinical practice and medical research, and sex inequality is a key issue in healthcare, with wide gaps in research and treatment efficacy for areas that are unique to women. Globally, women fare worse compared with men in relation to disease prevalence, access to healthcare, and outcomes after treatment. For example, women are less likely than men to have a heart attack correctly diagnosed, and are more likely to experience poor mental health.

Recent research suggests that interoception—which refers to the processing of internal bodily states (for example, feeling your heartbeat, or sensations of hunger and fullness)—is an important component of physical and mental health and wellbeing. Importantly, sex differences in interoception have been documented in a range of studies, with the current body of research indicating that women are less accurate at perceiving interoceptive signals and yet report more attention to interoceptive signals compared to men. Given the known links between interoception and physical and mental health, key questions for scholars to consider are the extent to which sex differences in interoception relate to sex differences in physical and mental health, and whether there are associations between interoception and issues that are specific to women.

In this Special Issue, we are interested in research examining the interplay between interoception and the unique healthcare needs and challenges that women face, recognising the complex interplay between female biology and the socio-cultural factors that affect women's health and wellbeing throughout their lives. Prospective papers may address any area of the topic, including sex differences; examinations of gendered and biological factors; and issues specific to women such as breast health, contraception and family planning, gynaecology, heath disparities, menstrual health, menopause, mental health, nutrition, pregnancy and childbirth, sexual health, and conditions that disproportionately affect women such as osteoporosis and fibromyalgia. We particularly encourage research utilising robust measures of interoception from a variety of hitherto neglected bodily domains, such as the respiratory, gastric, rectal, urinary, and oesophageal domains, as well as research that aims to separate environmental and biological factors.

We hope to advance this field of research by bringing together well-controlled experimental studies, reviews, and meta-analyses. We welcome contributions from psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, health sciences, medicine, and related fields. We will consider scientifically rigorous and original papers describing behavioural, qualitative, mixed methods, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging data, as well as theoretical papers, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and registered reports. Papers may address questions such as the following: Are there sex-specific differences in interoceptive processing, and how might these differences impact the diagnosis and management of medical conditions in women? What are the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between interoception and reproductive health, including fertility, pregnancy, and menopause? How do cultural and social factors intersect with interoception to shape women’s experiences of mental and physical health and wellbeing?

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jennifer Todd
Dr. Jennifer Murphy
Guest Editors

Submission Guidelines

We are committed to publishing high-quality research that advances knowledge and understanding in our field. Submissions relying on unvalidated or widely criticised measures (for discussion, see Desmedt et al., 2023; Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews) without sufficient justification will not be considered. We recognise that in certain instances, researchers may need to use measures that are not universally accepted or validated. If your study includes such measures, please provide a clear and detailed rationale in your cover letter. Specifically, please explain the following:

1. Why the chosen measure was appropriate for your study and how it was expected to capture the necessary data effectively.
2. Any constraints that necessitated the use of the measure, such as the study commencing before recent discussions of measurement standards or the lack of availability of better alternatives at the time.
3. Steps taken to ensure the reliability and validity of the data collected using these measures, and any additional analyses conducted to verify results.

We understand that discussions surrounding the measurement of interoception are advancing rapidly, and that research conditions are not always ideal. Therefore, if authors can provide compelling reasons for the use of certain measures and demonstrate their efforts to ensure data integrity, we may consider these submissions more favourably.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• interoception
• women’s health
• sex differences
• healthcare disparities
• reproductive health

Title: Interoceptive Awareness and Female Orgasm Frequency and Satisfaction
Authors: Emily Dixon; Giulia Lara Poerio; Gerulf Rieger; Megan Klabunde
Affiliation: University of Essex
Abstract: The female orgasm is a highly understudied phenomenon that is linked to both wellbeing and relationship satisfaction in women. Although orgasm has been associated with interoception -the sense of the physiological condition of the body- very few studies have directly examined the influence that interoception has on orgasm. This study investigates how the subjective experience of one’s interoceptive capacities (called interoceptive awareness) is associated with self-reported orgasm frequency and satisfaction in people who identify as women. In a dataset of 318 women, orgasm frequency and satisfaction were both rated significantly higher for solitary as compared to partnered sexual experiences. Analysis of how dimensions of interoceptive awareness correlated with orgasm frequency and satisfaction showed that: (1) ‘Noticing’ predicted to orgasm frequency (but not satisfaction) across both solitary and partnered interactions, (2) ‘Attention Regulation’ predicted greater frequency and satisfaction of solitary orgasm (but not partnered interactions), and (3) ‘Body Trusting’ predicted to orgasm satisfaction (but not frequency) across both solitary and partnered context. Findings underscore the importance of moving beyond orgasmic dysfunction research by investigating how interoception is associated with healthy– and potentially even optimal- orgasmic functioning in woman.

Title: The experience of interoceptive hunger in women and men
Authors: Daiana Martin-Rivera; Richard J. Stevenson
Affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Abstract: Background/Objectives: Gender differences in eating behaviours and interoception more broadly are well-established. However, literature on gender differences in hunger-related interoception remains limited. In this report, we examine whether gender differences exist in the intensity and pattern of interoceptive hunger cues; Methods: Participants completed an online survey where they rated the intensity of mood, stomach, mouth, throat, head, and general bodily-related sensations they experienced when hungry; Results: Compared to men, women consistently reported greater intensity of interoceptive hunger cues. While both genders agreed on the key features of hunger, women reported a more complex pattern of hunger cues, with more sensations exceeding moderate intensity than men. Attentional, psychosocial, and learning explanations for these differences are discussed; Conclusions: We provide initial evidence for gender differences in interoceptive hunger and further research is required to investigate the underlying mechanisms.

Title: How do menopausal symptom domains interrelate with features of body image and interoceptive sensibility?
Authors: Sarah Cooney; Aoife Coyle; Akansha Naraindas; Ciara Mahon
Affiliation: School of Psychology University College Dublin, Dublin City University