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Although neurobiological research has shown that interoception plays a role in the perception of pain and its chronification, the relationship between interoceptive sensitivity and pain has not been definitively confirmed by clinical studies. The aim of this study was therefore to better understand the relationship between interoceptive sensitivity, somatization, and clinical pain, and to identify any differences in the interoceptive sensitivity of patients with recurrent vs. chronic pain. Scores from 43 Chronic pain subjects, assessed using ICD-11 Criteria; 42 healthy subjects (without pain or psychiatric disorders); and 38 recurrent pain subjects on the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ-SF), Somatosensory amplification scale (SSAS), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R), and Italian Pain Questionnaire (IPQ) were compared. Negative attention to the body was indicated by higher scores of psychosomatic dimensions as SSAS, SCL90R somatization, and PHQ-15 in recurrent, but especially chronic pain (p<0.000 for all). An increase in psychosomatic dimension scores (i.e., somatization, somatosensory amplification) was associated with an increase in both autonomic nervous system reactivity (ANSR) dimension scores and the negative influence of the Not-worrying, attention regulation and trusting of the MAIA. In contrast, the presence of pain and scores for its dimensions with associated with lower supra-diaphragmatic activity as per the BPQ. Pain chronification might depend on both the impairment of interoceptive sensitivity and an increase on psychosomatic dimensions via modification of ANSR hyperactivity and a reduction of the MAIA Not-worrying dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatosensory amplification (SA) has been described as an important feature of somatoform disorders, and an "amplifying somatic style" has been reported as a negative connotation of body perception. As widespread pain (WSP) in fibromyalgia (FM) is due to a central sensitization (CS) rather than organic alterations, there has been discussion as to whether FM is equivalent to or distinct from somatization disorder (SD). Assuming SD and FM are two distinct entities, an increase in somatic amplification should be expected only in subjects who have SD, regardless of the type of pain they experience. Purpose of the study was to explore the magnitude of SA in FM, and whether this depends on the association with SD. FM (n=159) other forms of chronic pain (OCP, n=582), psychiatric (Psy, n=53) and healthy (H, n=55) subjects were investigated using the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), Illness Behavior Questionnaire, (IBQ), Italian Pain Questionnaire (IPQ), and Cold Pressor Test (CPT) in a retrospective observational study. FM subjects displayed higher SSAS scores than the other groups. High SSAS score was associated with FM (OR=8.39; 95%CI: 5.43–12.46) but not OCP. Although FM has the highest prevalence of SD (x2=14.07; p=.007), high SSAS scores were associated with SD in OCP but not in FM. Unlike in OCP, in FM high SSAS scores were independent of the presence of SD. From a biopsychosocial perspective, SSAS may be a factor associated with the onset of FM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]