Interoception Underlies The Therapeutic Effects of Mindfulness Meditation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial
arXiv Preprint Archive October 12, 2020 Seung Suk Kang, Scott R. Sponheim, Kelvin O. Lim et al.
A randomized clinical trial compared mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to present-centered group therapy in 98 veterans with PTSD. MBSR led to greater reductions in PTSD symptoms, increased spontaneous alpha brainwave power in posterior sites, stronger task-related frontal theta power, and enhanced frontal theta heartbeat-evoked brain responses. Only changes in frontal theta heartbeat-evoked responses mediated the treatment effect, with source-level analysis showing that theta changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insular cortex, and lateral prefrontal cortex predicted symptom improvement. The findings suggest that mindfulness meditation improves relaxation and attentional control, but enhanced interoceptive brain capacity appears to be the primary mechanism regulating emotional disturbances in PTSD.