Interoceptive Awareness, Decision-Making and Impulsiveness in Male Patients with Alcohol or Opioid Use Disorder

Abstract

Background

The present study was prepared on the assumption that interoceptive awareness (IA) and decision-making processes are implicated in addiction, and that somatic feedback plays an important role in decision-making.

Methods

The study participants included 80 abstinent male inpatients with alcohol use disorder (n = 40) or opioid use disorder (n = 40) according to DSM-5 criteria (current severity: moderate or severe), along with 40 healthy male volunteers. All participants performed the heart rate tracking task as an objective physiological performance measure of IA and a computerized version of the Iowa gambling task (IGT) as a validated measure of decision-making. Impulsiveness was assessed using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11 (BIS-11). Craving was evaluated with the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS) or Substance Craving Scale (SCS).

Results

(1) Heartbeat perception (HBP) and IGT scores were similar between the patients with alcohol or opioid addiction, being significantly lower than those in the control group, and the difference remained significant even when controlling for the factors that were significant in bivariate analyses; (2) HBP scores of patients correlated significantly with IGT scores, even when controlling the effect of the related variables; (3) BIS-11 scores of patients negatively correlated significantly with HBP scores and did not correlate significantly with IGT scores; and (4) PACS/SCS scores did not correlate significantly with HBP and IGT scores.

Conclusions

Our findings support the hypothesis that IA and decision-making processes are implicated in addiction and that decreased IA is associated with impaired decision-making.

Keywords:

• Addiction
• alcohol
• opioids
• interoceptive awareness
• heartbeat perception
• decision-making

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.