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. 2023 Apr;53(2):289-302.
doi: 10.1111/sltb.12942. Epub 2023 Jan 22.

Disrupted interoception in Military Service Members and Veterans with a history of suicidality

April R Smith  1 , Tracy K Witte  1 , William Grunewald  1 , Shruti Kinkel-Ram  2 , Celeste Santivasci  3 , Eric Crosby  1 , Tammy Williams  4 , Aaron Esche  5 , David Tubman  5 , Michael Dretsch  6
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Disrupted interoception in Military Service Members and Veterans with a history of suicidality

April R Smith et al. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Introduction: This project tested whether Service Members (SM) and Veterans with current suicidal ideation or a history of suicide attempt had greater interoceptive dysfunction than SM and Veterans with past or no suicidal ideation.

Method: Participants (N = 195; 69% male) were SM (62%) and Veterans (38%) who completed measures of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and subjective and objective interoceptive dysfunction. Participants were split into the following suicide groups: no suicidality, lifetime ideation, current ideation, and past attempt. Planned orthogonal contrasts tested for differences.

Results: The combined suicidality group (lifetime ideation, current ideation, or past attempt) had worse body trust relative to the no suicidality group, and the current ideation group had worse body trust relative to those with lifetime ideation. Those with a history of suicide attempt had worse body appreciation than the combined group of ideators, and those with current ideation had worse body appreciation relative to those with lifetime ideation. The groups did not differ on objective interoception.

Conclusion: Interoception is disrupted among individuals with suicidality histories within a predominantly male-identified military sample. Individuals with current suicidal ideation had both worse body trust and appreciation relative to those with past ideation. Suicide risk assessments may benefit from including questions related to body trust.

Keywords: interoception; interoceptive awareness; military; suicidal ideation; suicide; suicide attempt.

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