Interoceptive aberrations in major depressive disorder: Neural mechanisms, clinical correlates, and targeted interventions

Figure 3 Proposed stage-related model of interoception-related network dysfunction in major depressive disorder. This schematic summarizes a hypothesized dynamic pattern of interoception-related network alterations across clinical stages. Early-stage or first-episode major depressive disorder (MDD) may involve inefficient integration of bodily signals and altered salience processing, whereas chronic or recurrent MDD may be characterized by greater self-referential processing, disrupted network coordination, and persistent negative interpretations of bodily states. The model generates testable hypotheses for longitudinal and mechanistic studies. MDD: Major depressive disorder; ACC: Anterior cingulate cortex; DMN: Default mode network; SMN-VN: Somatomotor-visual networks; VAN: Ventral attention network.