Embodied pathways of recovery: interoceptive change and the reduction of depressive symptoms following Tai Chi in women aged 40–55 years

Abstract

Purpose

Psychological distress in women is increasingly conceptualized as an embodied phenomenon, in which affective dysregulation is closely intertwined with altered interoception. Mind–body interventions, such as Tai Chi, may influence affective functioning through embodied regulatory processes, particularly interoception, which links bodily signaling with emotional experience. This study examined whether Tai Chi was associated with decreases in depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms among women aged 40–55 years with clinically diagnosed depression and explored interoceptive sensitivity (IS) as a potential embodied mechanism.

Methods

A two-arm quasi-experimental study was conducted among 40 women aged 40–55 years with clinically diagnosed depression who participated in an 8-week Tai Chi intervention or a maintained lifestyle control condition. Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), and IS (ISQ-20) were assessed at baseline and across five follow-up timepoints. Longitudinal group differences were analyzed using generalized estimating equations, and lagged mediation analyses examined whether earlier changes in IS were associated with subsequent changes in affective symptoms.

Results

Compared with controls, the Tai Chi group demonstrated progressive reductions in depressive symptoms from week 4 and earlier improvements in IS from week 2. Improvements in IS during the mid-to-late intervention stages were associated with subsequent reductions in depressive symptoms, accounting for 23.6% and 35.8% of the total intervention effect. Anxiety symptoms also reduced at later timepoints but were not associated with IS.

Conclusion

Tai Chi was associated with reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms alongside progressive changes in interoception. These findings support an embodied perspective of psychological distress and suggest that changes in interoceptive functioning may represent one pathway associated with depressive symptom reduction.