Fybromialgia, interoception and risk factor for emotional dysregulation: a single case pilot study

Recent research showed that individuals with fibromyalgia (FM) reported more experience of physical and emotional abuse compared with other chronic diseases and healthy individuals. A single case of FM patient has been confronted with a control group (CG) of healthy participants, to better explore the relationship between FM, emotional distress and interoception. Preliminary evidence suggests qualitative differences in the pain severity index, in interoceptive awareness and autonomic stress reactivity subscales for the FM patient, who scored higher values compared to CG. Besides, the FM patient scored a general significant higher Interoceptive Sensitivity Index at the heartbeat detection task compared to CG. These results might suggest heightened Interoceptive Sensitivity as a maintenance risk factor for pain severity and emotion dysregulation.