Development for evaluation index for somatic symptom disorder based on computational model of interoception

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K14454
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 10030:Clinical psychology-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Ueno Daisuke 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (00760589)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 内受容感覚 / 身体症状症 / 心拍カウント課題 / 磁気共鳴機能画像法（fMRI） / 身体と脳

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is a one of neuropsychiatric symptoms in which physical symptoms, such as pain and discomfort, persist despite the absence of physical abnormalities commensurate with subjective symptoms. In resent years, it has been suggested that the interoception, which refers the perception of bodily states such as heartbeat and respiration, serves as a signal connecting the body and brain, and emerges various emotions, including pain and discomfort. In this research, we created a task to measure the degree to which patients can improve they perceived interoception precisely. The results showed that patients with SSD were not able to modulate interoceptive accuracy, and some brain functional connectivities were also found to be associated with this difficulty of improvement. Furthermore, some relationship was found between the difficulty of improvement and the severity of SDD, but the future study needs to confirm reliability and validity of this relationship.

Free Research Field

臨床心理学，認知神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

身体症状症とは，患者の訴えに見合う身体的異常がないにも関わらず，痛みや違和感等の様々な苦痛を伴う身体症状が長期に持続する精神症状である。近年提案されている内受容感覚の予測的処理モデルによると，身体内部の生理的状態に対する知覚である内受容感覚が感情や意思決定を創発し，調整していると考えられている。内受容感覚の予測的処理モデルは，感情や意思決定の基礎的機序のみならず，様々な精神神経症状を説明する理論としても注目されている。内受容感覚の予測的処理モデルに基づいた本研究は，身体症状症の病態理解や身体症状症の診断及び治療に貢献する可能性がある。