@article{ref1,
title="Where is an emotion? Using targeted visceroception as a method of improving emotion regulation in healthy participants to inform suicide prevention initiatives: a randomised controlled trial",
journal="Trials",
year="2020",
author="Davey, Steven and Bell, Elliot and Halberstadt, Jamin and Collings, Sunny",
volume="21",
number="1",
pages="e642-e642",
abstract="BACKGROUND: William James' 1884 paper &quot;What is an emotion?&quot; has generated much recent interest in affective science regarding somatic contributions to emotion. Studies of interoception (&quot;sensing the physiological condition of the body&quot;) suggest that sensing specific parts of the body contributes to the production of emotion, namely when sensing the viscera (i.e. &quot;visceroception&quot; of the heart, gut or lungs). Improved visceroception has, for instance, been linked to increased emotional intensity, suggesting a role for interoception in emotion regulation that may pertain specifically to visceral bodily locations. Thus, in addition to asking James' question, &quot;What is an emotion?&quot;, we ask, &quot;Where is an emotion?&quot;. Further, there is an evidence base pointing to the connections between emotion regulation and suicide, and between interoception and suicide. This is a preliminary trial investigating whether targeted interoception/visceroception improves emotion regulation. Ultimately, the overall project aims to inform suicide prevention efforts.   METHODS: The trial utilises a pre-test/post-test control group design, with two experimental groups undergoing visceroceptive interventions (focussing on areas pertaining to the gut or heart) and a control group. The interventions will run for 8 weeks. A spatial cueing task will measure reaction times to bodily changes relating to lower abdomen or chest focus. A stop/signal task will measure emotional inhibition, which is hypothesised to obscure awareness of active bodily locations. Visceroceptive ability will be tracked using a heartbeat estimation task, a water load test, and by self-report questionnaire. The sample will consist of healthcare professionals and healthcare students. Despite these being groups that represent a relatively high suicide risk among professional and student groups, all participants will be healthy, given the preliminary nature of this trial.   DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this will be the first project to address whether emotional feeling presents as a localised bodily phenomenon and whether trained awareness of emotional localisation can improve emotion regulation. It will also be the first to investigate relationships between interoception and emotional inhibition (i.e. whether a sustained interoceptive practice leads to the disinhibition of bodily emotional sensations, which can positively contribute to emotion regulation). These empirical findings on emotion regulation from a healthy sample will be used to inform a desk-based enquiry into the role of embodied emotion in suicide prevention, which may make a significant contribution to a growing evidence base on interoception and suicide.   TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTR N12619000324112. Registered on 4 March 2019. Universal Trial Number (UTN): U1111-1221-0201.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1745-6215",
doi="10.1186/s13063-020-04479-9",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-04479-9"
}