Key points
- Interoceptive awareness, sometimes called the “eighth sense,” helps us read our body’s internal signals.
- People with PTSD may show lower prefrontal cortex activation and reduced body awareness.
- Films like ‘Black Swan’ and ‘The Wrestler’ show characters’ bodies revealing pain before their minds do.
When we don’t have the words to tell someone what happened to us, our bodies just step in. For instance, when we are grieving, we might say, “My heart is heavy” because that is how it feels in our body. When you are anxious, you might say, “My stomach is in knots” because the feeling of anxiety lies in our stomach
Feelings can be so intense that we experience the sensation in our bodies before we can cognitively explain them. In psychology, we call this interoceptive awareness — sometimes referred to as our “eighth sense.” It is how we understand our body’s internal physical signals (heartbeat, breathing, or temperature) when something feels misaligned
In the book The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk explained how trauma can reshape our bodies and brains. He found that individuals with PTSD (post-traumaticstress disorder) have trouble processing sensations in their bodies. He also shows a connection between little-to-no interoceptive awarenessand low activation in the prefrontal cortex. In other words, the trauma we feel could change our brain’s fear response and wreak havoc on our nervous systems
If we learn to pay attention to our body’s signals in a mindful, present way by focusing on nonjudgmental awareness and acceptance of bodily sensations, we can reconnect the mind and body. In a 2020 research study, a 16-week yoga program was compared to a 16-week wellness lifestyle program for treating PTSD symptoms. The yoga program, which focused on the body, physical postures (asanas), controlled breathing (pranayama), and meditation, was more beneficialin reducing symptoms of PTSD and stress. The participants in the yoga program developed greater interoceptive, somatic, and emotional awareness, as well as self-regulation, than those in the wellness program, which offered walking, stress-reduction workshops, and nutritional counseling.
Following are three award-winning movies in which the protagonist’s body reacts before the mind catches up, in a way that is eerily truthful and sometimes gut-wrenching
Black Swan (2010):The body ofNina (Natalie Portman) physically deteriorates in front of us as the pressure in her life builds and her mental state collapses. While her brain doesn’t process what is happening to her, her body transforms into something else – something she has rejected, something horrific, frail, fierce, and destroyed
Manchester by the Sea (2016): Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is emotionally shut down, following the tragic death of his children in a house fire caused by his own negligence. Lee is so consumed by an unbearable amount of guilt that he is living in an embodied state of perpetual numbness
The Wrestler (2008):Mickey Rourke portrays Randy, whose body becomes a metaphor for his ruined life. His self-inflicted damage on his body as a wrestler is a physical manifestation of his self-loathing and lack of self-worth
Davis, L. W., Schmid, A. A., Daggy, J. K., Yang, Z., O’Connor, C. E., Schalk, N., Do, A.-N. L., Maric, D., Lazarick, D., & Knock, H. (2020). Symptoms improve after a yoga program designed for PTSD in a randomized controlled trial with veterans and civilians. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(8), 904–912
Leech K., Stapleton P., and Patching A. (2024). A roadmap to understanding interoceptive awareness and post-traumatic stress disorder: a scoping review. Front. Psychiatry 15:1355442
Van der Kolk, Bessel A. (2014). The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York: Penguin Books Ltd
