As the importance of supporting interoceptive processing gains increased attention from health professionals it is vital that we remain up to date in our understanding of latest research and best practice recommendations.
In this presentation Jo Minchin (Expert by Experience) and Geoff Bird, PhD, define and discuss interoception and the implications of disordered interoceptive processing. Jo shares personal anecdotes and lived examples of differences in interoception throughout her life. Geoff shares the neural basis of interoception and brain differences related to altered interoceptive functioning. They are able to draw clear connections between individual differences in interoception and the impact on human development including sense-of-self and self agency. Alexithymia is also discussed in relation to disordered interoception and the workshop closes with a practical discussion on "what we can do about it."
The views expressed in the following presentation are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect those of STAR Institute.
Level: Introductory
- Define interoception
- State 3 potential implications of disordered interoception for those on the autism spectrum
- State 2 ways that health professionals can support those with disordered interoceptive processing
Presenters:
Jo is an autistic person, a parent of autistic people, and a professional working in the field of autism. After more than 15 years as a parent advocate and autism activist, in 2015, she became employed by her local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to be the first actually autistic Expert by Experience working in Care and Treatment Reviews within Transforming Care in the UK NHS. Jo also has a strategic commissioning role within her own CCG and works with a number of Local Authority Partnership Boards.
Jo’s national work in the UK includes being Vice Chair of the Advisory Group for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA), and she was involved in a recent review of the Mental Health Act. She serves as the European Liaison link for the National Autistic Taskforce, and as a representative of the NAT she has worked with Skills for Health, Skills for Care, and British Association of Social Workers (BASW). In her spare time, she is reading for a Masters on autistic adults at the University of Birmingham, and she has an interest in taking academic studies further. Jo is told that she is good at explaining autistic experience to people who are not autistic, which is both gratifying and humbling, as she feels there is still so much more in our common humanity to be shared.
Geoff Bird's PhD work
(which was supervised by Professor Cecilia Heyes at UCL), was on the mechanisms
by which we imitate the actions of others. After this, he moved to the
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICN) at UCL, where he worked with
Professors Chris and Uta Frith on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
His work
primarily utilised functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and
investigated a number of processes in adults with ASD. These included: attentional
modulation of social and non-social stimuli, executive functions, empathy,
decision making, and emotional awareness. While at the ICN, Dr. Bird also
looked at the development of theory of mind and social emotions across
adolescence with Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and studied the neural basis
of empathy and fairness with Professor Tania Singer.
Following
the ICN, he moved to the Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution
(ELSE) as a Postdoctoral Fellow where he continued to work with Professor
Heyes on studies of imitation and decision making in typically-developing
adults and adults with ASD. From October 2007 Dr. Bird took a year's
position as an advisor on science policy to the UK government before joining
the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck in October 2008.
He moved to the MRC SGDP Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry,
Psychology, and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London in January 2013
where he continued to work on social cognition in typical individuals and those
with ASD. At the IoPPN, he developed a keen interest in interoception (our
ability to perceive the internal state of our body) and alexithymia (a sub-clinical condition characterized by an inability to identify and describe
one's own emotions). In January 2017 he moved to the Dept of Experimental
Psychology at Oxford where he hopes to continue this work.
Continuing Education Credits:
STAR Institute is an AOTA Approved Provider of continuing education. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
The views expressed in the following presentation are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect those of STAR Institute.