Immediate effects of interoceptive awareness training through Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT) for women in substance use disorder treatment

Abstract

Background: Sensory information gained through interoceptive awareness may play an important role in affective behavior and successful inhibition of drug use. This study examined the immediate pre-post effects of the mind-body intervention Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT) as an adjunct to women’s substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. MABT teaches interoceptive awareness skills to promote self-care and emotion regulation. Methods: Women in intensive outpatient treatment (IOP) for chemical dependency (N = 217) at 3 community clinics in the Pacific Northwest of the United States were recruited and randomly assigned to one of 3 study conditions: MABT + treatment as usual (TAU), women’s health education (WHE) +TAU (active control condition), and TAU only. At baseline and 3 months post-intervention, assessments were made of interoceptive awareness skills and mindfulness, emotion regulation (self-report and psychophysiological measures), symptomatic distress (depression and trauma-related symptoms), and substance use (days abstinent) and craving. Changes in outcomes across time were assessed using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression. Results: Findings based on an intent-to-treat approach demonstrated significant improvements in interoceptive awareness and mindfulness skills, emotion dysregulation (self-report and psychophysiology), and days abstinent for women who received MABT compared with the other study groups. Additional analyses based on participants who completed the major components of MABT (at least 75% of the intervention sessions) revealed these same improvements as well as reductions in depressive symptoms and substance craving. Conclusions: Findings that interoceptive training is associated with health outcomes for women in SUD treatment are consistent with emerging neurocognitive models that link interoception to emotion regulation and to related health outcomes, providing knowledge critical to supporting and improving SUD treatment.

Keywords:

• Complementary therapies
• emotion regulation
• interoception
• mindfulness
• substance use disorder
• treatment
• women

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the women who participated in this study and the interventionists that worked with them: Elizabeth Chaison, Sarah Huntting, Lauren Oikle, Rebekah Ingalls, Christeine Terry, Anna Treadway, Lauren Oikle, and Carla Wiechman.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by R01 DA033324 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The funding organization had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Notes on contributors

Cynthia J. Price

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.

Elaine A. Thompson

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.

Sheila E. Crowell

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.

Kenneth Pike

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.

Sunny C. Cheng

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.

Sara Parent

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.

Carole Hooven

Cynthia Price contributed to the research conception, design, interpretation of results, and writing and revision of this article; Elaine Thompson contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and revision; Sheila Crowell contributed to the design, interpretation of results, and writing; Kenneth Pike contributed to the data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing; Sunny Cheng and Sara Parent contributed to data analysis; and Carole Hooven contributed to design and interpretation of results.