Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:18:56.393Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Visceral Sensitivity as a Superpower

from Part I - The Background Science Behind Feeling and Body Investigators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2023

Nancy L. Zucker ,
Katharine L. Loeb  and
Martha E. Gagliano
Nancy L. Zucker
Affiliation:
Duke University Medical Center, Durham
Katharine L. Loeb
Affiliation:
Chicago Center for Evidence Based Treatment
Martha E. Gagliano
Affiliation:
Duke University Medical Center, Durham
Get access

Summary

Children with sensory superpowers live life out loud! They have a vivid experience of themselves and the world around them that adds richness to life. Pain sensitivity does not have to be a vulnerability. This chapter is about reframing visceral hypersensitivity as an asset that contributes to three specific superpowers. First, children with visceral sensitivity have spell-binding powers of perception. Because of their history of pain, children may become hyper-vigilant and scared of all the sensations they notice. As they become FBI agents, children learn to harness this perception and use playfulness and curiosity to detect body clues and investigate body mysteries. Second, children with visceral hypersensitivity have awe-inspiring self-awareness. Readers learn about the function, power, and experience of emotions. The intensity with which children feel their bodies runs parallel to strong emotions that can provide vital information to help them get to know and trust themselves. Finally, children with sensory superpowers have faster-than-lightening intuitive decision-making capacities. We explore how sensitivity to physical sensations in the gut can translate to strong feelings that help one “go with their gut” reaction. This chapter links how the tools of the FBI intervention are designed to harness and build each of these superpowers.

Keywords

paingastrointestinal disordersabdominal paintreatmentchildreninteroceptive exposuresensory sensitivityvisceral hypersensitivitygut-brain interactionemotion regulationfearanxietygut feelings
Type
Chapter
Information
Treating Functional Abdominal Pain in Children
A Clinical Guide Using Feeling and Body Investigators (FBI)
 , pp. 9 - 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Simren, M., Tornblom, H., Palsson, O.S., et al. (2017). Visceral hypersensitivity is associated with GI symptom severity in functional GI disorders: consistent findings from five different patient cohorts. Gut 67(2), 255–262 https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl–2016–312361Google ScholarPubMed
LeDoux, J. (1996). Blood, sweat, and tears. In The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, pp. 42–72.Google Scholar
Tooby, J., Cosmides, L. (1990). The past explains the present – emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environments. Ethol Sociobiol 11, 375–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(90)90017-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutcherson, C.A., Gross, J.J. (2011). The moral emotions: a social-functionalist account of anger, disgust, and contempt. J Pers Soc Psychol 100, 719–737. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022408CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannon, W.B. (1925). Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear, and Rage: An Account of Recent Researches into the Function of Emotional Excitement. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar
Hicks, J.W., Bennett, A.F. (2004). Eat and run: prioritization of oxygen delivery during elevated metabolic states. Respir Physiol Neurobiol 144, 215–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resp.2004.05.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Camilleri, M., Lasch, K., Zhou, W. (2012). Irritable bowel syndrome: methods, mechanisms, and pathophysiology. The confluence of increased permeability, inflammation, and pain in irritable bowel syndrome. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 303, G775–785. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00155.2012CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khalsa, S.S., Adolphs, R., Cameron, O.G., et al. (2018). Interoception and mental health: a roadmap. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 3, 501–513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.12.004Google ScholarPubMed
Herbert, B.M., Pollatos, O., Schandry, R. (2007). Interoceptive sensitivity and emotion processing: an EEG study. Int J Psychophysiol 65, 214–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.04.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schuette, S.A., Zucker, N.L., Smoski, M.J. (2021). Do interoceptive accuracy and interoceptive sensibility predict emotion regulation? Psychol Res 85, 1894–1908. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01369-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kragel, P.A., LaBar, K.S. (2014). Advancing emotion theory with multivariate pattern classification. Emot Rev 6, 160–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073913512519CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leeuw, M., Goossens, M.E., Linton, S.J., et al. (2007). The fear-avoidance model of musculoskeletal pain: current state of scientific evidence. J Behav Med 30, 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-006-9085-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crombez, G., Eccleston, C., Van Damme, S., et al. (2012). Fear-avoidance model of chronic pain: the next generation. Clin J Pain 28, 475–483. https://doi.org/10.1097/AJP.0b013e3182385392CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lissek, S., Rabin, S.J., McDowell, D.J., et al. (2009). Impaired discriminative fear-conditioning resulting from elevated fear responding to learned safety cues among individuals with panic disorder. Behav Res Ther 47, 111–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2008.10.017CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brady, S.T., Hard, B.M., Gross, J.J. (2018). Reappraising test anxiety increases academic performance of first-year college students. J Educ Psychol 110, 395–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, C.H., Naliboff, B.D., Shih, W., et al. (2019). Negative events during adulthood are associated with symptom severity and altered stress response in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 17, 2245–2252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2018.12.029CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Videlock, E.J., Adeyemo, M., Licudine, A., et al. (2009). Childhood trauma is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responsiveness in irritable bowel syndrome. Gastroenterology 137, 1954–1962. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2009.08.058CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tait, C., Sayuk, G.S. (2021). The brain-gut-microbiotal axis: a framework for understanding functional GI illness and their therapeutic interventions. Eur J Int Med 84, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2020.12.023CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J.A., Rinaman, L., Cryan, J.F. (2017). Stress & the gut-brain axis: regulation by the microbiome. Neurobiol Stress 7, 124–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2017.03.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayer, E.A. (2011). Gut feelings: the emerging biology of gut-brain communication. Nat Rev Neurosci 12, 453–466. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3071CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drossman, D.A. (2016). Functional gastrointestinal disorders and the Rome IV Process. In Di Lorenzo, C. and Nurko, S. (eds.). Rome IV Pediatric Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Raleigh, North Carolina: Rome Foundation, pp. 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perri, L.M., Keefe, F.J. (2008). Applying centrality of event to persistent pain: a preliminary view. J Pain 9, 265–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2007.10.019CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×