Embodied Regulation: Mechanisms of Somatosensory–Emotional Integration in Chronic Pain

We are pleased to support a pioneering research project starting in January 2026 that investigates body-based mechanisms of emotion and pain regulation, with the aim of establishing an empirical foundation for body-focused interventions.

According to current understanding, chronic pain arises from disrupted central regulation in which perception, emotion, and stress processing are closely intertwined. Many patients understand the causes of their pain but are unable to influence them. This is where embodiment techniques come into play: they employ targeted attentional focus, bodily awareness, and therapeutic stimulation to sustainably modify unconscious cognitive and behavioral patterns. To date, it remains unclear which neurobiological mechanisms underlie these changes—and whether the observed effects are attributable to shared principles or to technique-specific processes.

The project aims to investigate the common and differential mechanisms of action of three embodiment techniques at the neurobiological, psychological, and phenomenological levels, using behavioral experiments and fMRI studies. This will, for the first time, allow the therapeutic efficacy of such approaches to be examined at the level of neuronal networks and will provide empirical support for their relevance in clinical applications for chronic pain.