Dr. Stephen Porges: What is the Polyvagal Theory

our nervous system is functionally a triangle upside down okay with a point this is the brain stuff I'm talking about the circuits they're being regulated in the brainstem that regulate our underlying state percolate information up to the brain stem and the brainstem literally is transmitting that information to higher brain structures enabling access to different brain areas so that when we're in safe States we can access higher cortical functions but when we're in danger States those systems turn off and we're defensive if

we think of this triangle each time we get higher and higher we have greater diversity of expression outcome so I'm talking about basically three states that provide a neuro platform for great diversity of expression if you are in a constant dangerous environment your nervous system is going to find it difficult to detect safety so the can't detect safety is going to be in the state of more fight flight a low threshold to react and when you're in that state you're

gonna miss read other people's cues so you're more likely neutral faces as being aggressive you're more likely to see fearful faces as if they were angry so you can really confound difficult relationships so you won't be able to use people to self-regulate baby will they'll become threatening and reactive so if you have a history in which there is no experiences of using people to regulate in a very pro-social

positive way people will then become threatening or damaging to you and what I always want to emphasize is that the social interaction will behavior is a neural exercise it's a neural exercise of using newer mammalian structures as its evolutionary newer structures to inhibit very primitive defensive systems so if we feel that we're in safe environments will use our face will use the intonation or a voice and will negotiate a relationship or maintain

safety by doing that and this is what friends do this is what lovers do this would supposedly teachers are supposed to do in therapists right if we are a little bit in a more dangerous situation like a novel environment don't know anything about it we'll go into another physiological state that will support fight-or-flight mobilization behaviors and if we can fight or flee get away from something then we've actually negotiated that danger but what if we can't get away from the danger what if we are held down

or waiting in confined environment what if we're trapped in a car or a plane or in the bathroom and someone is now going to hurt us the possibilities that we could trigger a third circuit which shuts us down and is that shutdown circuit that makes it's so important in understanding trauma and the polyvagal theory articulates that shut down circuit while most other theoretical models of trauma and and what people would call stress disorders only talked about a fight/flight system okay so

that's the core of what I would tell a person about the polyvagal theory and the second component of that core is that these responses are not voluntary our nervous system is picking up information the environment and evaluating that information not on the cognitive level but on a on a subconscious who want to bring back that term but on the neurobiological level were picking up features of risk or danger and our nervous system puts us

into those different states and we can become aware of that because when we're in certain environments we may feel our heart pounding and when we ask the question why is my heart pounding and then you'll say well something in the environment must have triggered it but often we don't know the cues that trigger these things so the point that I want to make is first that the polyvagal theory provides us with an understanding of three neural circuits that support different types of behavior one is social engagement behaviors in safe

environments the other words fight flight immobilization in heroes and the third one is really a shutting down a second level of Defense