The Re-Embodiment Project: Exploring the Role of Interoception and Embodiment in Anorexia Nervosa

Several lines of evidence suggest that this process of interoceptive inference is disrupted in AN. Specifically, it is thought that afferent interoceptive signals become “noisy” or unpredictable, which renders these streams unreliable. As a result, incoming interoceptive information is thought to become attenuated in AN leading to an overreliance upon external signals and predictions to form a sense of self. Moreover, as interoceptive streams are attenuated, conflicting sensory information encoded within these streams is not used to update predictions, resulting in the development of increasingly rigid models of the body’s internal state which ultimately may lead to a detachment of the sense of self from the inner body. In essence, individuals with AN become “disembodied.” Developing this concept further, the allocentric lock hypothesis (ALH6) proposes that AN primarily arises from a deficit in multisensory integration of the self. If evidence is found to support the core tenets of the ALH, then this would suggest interventions aiming to restore the integration of interoceptive signals may be effective for the treatment of AN. Therefore, the goal of the Re-Embodiment Project is to both investigate key questions arising from the ALH and to develop new interventions for the treatment of AN across two phases. This research has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council [Grant No. ES/P000665/1] and will be conducted by researchers from Lancaster University; Birkbeck, University of London; and the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust; in collaboration with the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, Italy.