Therapist and educator Carrie DeJong has a new book, Listening In: How Interoception Can Improve Your Mental and Emotional Health, scheduled for October 27, 2026, through North Atlantic Books. The publication introduces interoception, the ability to notice signals from inside the body, and examines its relevance to emotions, stress responses and everyday self-awareness.
Interoception includes sensations such as breathing, warmth, physical tension and other internal changes that can occur before a person has words for what they are experiencing. Listening In places these signals at the beginning of a practical discussion about how people recognize their needs and interpret their emotional states.
The book combines explanations of the interoceptive system with case studies and body-oriented exercises. Its chapters address how early attachment experiences, chronic stress, trauma and illness can complicate a person’s relationship with internal sensations. Rather than presenting bodily awareness as an automatic solution, the exercises encourage readers to become more curious about sensations and the meanings they assign to them.
DeJong has worked in trauma and addiction treatment for more than three decades. Her professional background informs a guide intended for both helping professionals and general readers, including people interested in the relationship between psychological experience and bodily awareness. The book is also relevant to practitioners who use somatic methods alongside conversation-based approaches.
One of the distinctions running through Listening In is the difference between noticing a sensation and immediately deciding what it means. A tight chest, for example, may prompt a person to search for an explanation before fully recognizing the sensation itself. The book’s approach gives attention to that earlier moment of observation, without assuming that every internal signal has one fixed interpretation.
Anxiety, depression, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress and emotional dysregulation appear among the experiences discussed. Their inclusion provides context for the book’s mind-body approach, not evidence that its exercises independently treat those conditions. People dealing with significant symptoms still need assessment and support appropriate to their circumstances.
North Atlantic Books lists paperback, ebook and audiobook editions, with October 27 as the release date on its product record. The audio edition is read by Rachael Doolen. DeJong has also arranged public conversations around the book, including an October 29 gathering in West Vancouver devoted to interoception and mental health.
Listening In arrives as interest in somatic practice continues across coaching, counseling and personal development. Its contribution is a focused introduction to one specific capacity: recognizing internal bodily information and considering how that awareness may inform choices, relationships and emotional understanding. The emphasis remains on learning a skill, rather than promising an instant transformation.
Source: North Atlantic Books
Web: https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/listening-in/
