Interoception and Women’s Health

Dear Colleagues,

Men have historically been treated as the default patient in clinical practice and medical research, and sex inequality is a key issue in healthcare, with wide gaps in research and treatment efficacy for areas that are unique to women. Globally, women fare worse compared with men in relation to disease prevalence, access to healthcare, and outcomes after treatment. For example, women are less likely than men to have a heart attack correctly diagnosed, and are more likely to experience poor mental health.

Recent research suggests that interoception—which refers to the processing of internal bodily states (for example, feeling your heartbeat, or sensations of hunger and fullness)—is an important component of physical and mental health and wellbeing. Importantly, sex differences in interoception have been documented in a range of studies, with the current body of research indicating that women are less accurate at perceiving interoceptive signals and yet report more attention to interoceptive signals compared to men. Given the known links between interoception and physical and mental health, key questions for scholars to consider are the extent to which sex differences in interoception relate to sex differences in physical and mental health, and whether there are associations between interoception and issues that are specific to women.

In this Special Issue, we are interested in research examining the interplay between interoception and the unique healthcare needs and challenges that women face, recognising the complex interplay between female biology and the socio-cultural factors that affect women's health and wellbeing throughout their lives. Prospective papers may address any area of the topic, including sex differences; examinations of gendered and biological factors; and issues specific to women such as breast health, contraception and family planning, gynaecology, heath disparities, menstrual health, menopause, mental health, nutrition, pregnancy and childbirth, sexual health, and conditions that disproportionately affect women such as osteoporosis and fibromyalgia. We particularly encourage research utilising robust measures of interoception from a variety of hitherto neglected bodily domains, such as the respiratory, gastric, rectal, urinary, and oesophageal domains, as well as research that aims to separate environmental and biological factors.

We hope to advance this field of research by bringing together well-controlled experimental studies, reviews, and meta-analyses. We welcome contributions from psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, health sciences, medicine, and related fields. We will consider scientifically rigorous and original papers describing behavioural, qualitative, mixed methods, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging data, as well as theoretical papers, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and registered reports. Papers may address questions such as the following: Are there sex-specific differences in interoceptive processing, and how might these differences impact the diagnosis and management of medical conditions in women? What are the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between interoception and reproductive health, including fertility, pregnancy, and menopause? How do cultural and social factors intersect with interoception to shape women’s experiences of mental and physical health and wellbeing?

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jennifer Todd
Dr. Jennifer Murphy
Guest Editors

Submission Guidelines

We are committed to publishing high-quality research that advances knowledge and understanding in our field. Submissions relying on unvalidated or widely criticised measures (for discussion, see Desmedt et al., 2023; Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews) without sufficient justification will not be considered. We recognise that in certain instances, researchers may need to use measures that are not universally accepted or validated. If your study includes such measures, please provide a clear and detailed rationale in your cover letter. Specifically, please explain the following:

1. Why the chosen measure was appropriate for your study and how it was expected to capture the necessary data effectively.
2. Any constraints that necessitated the use of the measure, such as the study commencing before recent discussions of measurement standards or the lack of availability of better alternatives at the time.
3. Steps taken to ensure the reliability and validity of the data collected using these measures, and any additional analyses conducted to verify results.

We understand that discussions surrounding the measurement of interoception are advancing rapidly, and that research conditions are not always ideal. Therefore, if authors can provide compelling reasons for the use of certain measures and demonstrate their efforts to ensure data integrity, we may consider these submissions more favourably.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• interoception
• women’s health
• sex differences
• healthcare disparities
• reproductive health

Title: Interoceptive Awareness and Female Orgasm Satisfaction and Frequency
Authors: Megan Klabunde; Giulia Poerio; Gerulf Reiger; Emily Dixon
Affiliation: Centre for Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, UK

Title: The experience of interoceptive hunger in women and men
Authors: Daiana MARTIN-RIVERA, Richard James STEVENSON
Affiliation: School of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia.

Title: Deficits in Interoceptive Sensibility and Symptoms of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) Symptoms among Female College Students: A Network Analysis
Authors: Olivia Clancy; Marley Billman Miller; Rylee Lusich; Shruti Kinkel-Ram; April Smith
Affiliation: Auburn University

Title: How do menopausal symptom domains interrelate with features of body image and interoceptive sensibility?
Authors: Sarah Cooney; Aoife Coyle; Akansha Naraindas; Ciara Mahon
Affiliation: School of Psychology University College Dublin, Dublin City University