Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation

by Stephen W. Porges PhD

Overview

The foundational role of safety in our lives.

Ever since publication of The Polyvagal Theory in 2011, demand for information about this innovative perspective has been constant. Here Stephen W. Porges brings together his most important writings since the publication of that seminal work. At its heart, polyvagal theory is about safety. It provides an understanding that feeling safe is dependent on autonomic states, and that our cognitive evaluations of risk in the environment, including identifying potentially dangerous relationships, play a secondary role to our visceral reactions to people and places.

Our reaction to the continuing global pandemic supports one of the central concepts of polyvagal theory: that a desire to connect safely with others is our biological imperative. Indeed, life may be seen as an inherent quest for safety. These ideas, and more, are outlined in chapters on therapeutic presence, group psychotherapy, yoga and music therapy, autism, trauma, date rape, medical trauma, and COVID-19.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324016274
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/05/2021
Series:	Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stephen W. Porges, PhD, originator of Polyvagal Theory, is a Distinguished University Scientist and founding director of the Kinsey Institute Traumatic Stress Research Consortium at Indiana University, and a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina. He lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: An Embedded History of a New Science xv

1 Neurocardiology Through the Lens of the Polyvagal Theory Stephen W. Porges Jacek Kolacz 1

2 Polyvagal Theory: A Biobehavioral Journey to Sociality Stephen W. Porges 17

3 Play as a Neural Exercise: Insights From the Polyvagal Theory Stephen W. Porges 61

4 Vagal Pathways: Portals to Compassion Stephen W. Porges 66

5 Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory: The Convergence of Traditional Wisdom and Contemporary Neuroscience for Self-Regulation and Resilience Marlysa B. Sullivan Matt Erb Laura Schmalzl Steffany Moonaz Jessica Noggle Taylor Stephen W. Porges 88

6 Mindfulness-Based Movement: A Polyvagal Perspective Alexander R. Lucas Heidi D. Klepin Stephen W. Porges W. Jack Rejeski 118

7 Group Psychotherapy as a Neural Exercise: Bridging Polyvagal Theory and Attachment Theory Philip J. Flores Stephen W. Porges 138

8 Neural Mechanisms Underlying Human-Animal Interaction: An Evolutionary Perspective C. Sue Carter Stephen W. Porges 154

9 Therapeutic Presence: Neurophysiological Mechanisms Mediating Feeling Safe in Therapeutic Relationships Shari M. Geller Stephen W. Porges 170

10 Play and the Dynamics of Treating Pediatric Medical Trauma: Insights From Polyvagal Theory Stephen W. Porges Stuart Daniel 192

11 Brain-Body Connection May Ease Autistic People's Social Problems Stephen W. Porges 204

12 Reducing Auditory Hypersensitivities in Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Preliminary Findings Evaluating the Listening Project Protocol Stephen W. Porges Olga V. Bazhenova Elgiz Bal Nancy Carlson Yevgeniya Sorokin Keri J. Heilman Edwin H. Cook Gregory F. Lewis 208

13 The Significance of Stillness Stephen W. Porges Denise Winn 231

14 The COVID-19 Pandemic Is a Paradoxical Challenge to Our Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective Stephen W. Porges 246

Appendix: Polyvagal Theory: A Primer 253

Credits 271

Index 273

Editorial Reviews

"Based in deep science, this groundbreaking book is full of practical and powerful tools to help people feel calmer, stronger, more connected, and more confident."

Rick Hanson

"This indispensable volume presents the essentials of Stephen Porges's brilliant Polyvagal Theory as it applies to many clinical conditions as, indeed, to human life and development. Nuanced, richly detailed, and written with clarity, Polyvagal Safety is a matchless gift to physicians and therapists, and to all students of the body's inextricable unity with the psyche. "

Gabor Maté

"Stephen Porges's masterful theory of the nervous system is one of the most detailed, true to life portraits of the embodied nervous system—something of which we only had glimpses of, because of some huge blind spots that Porges has remediated. This new book of seminal papers extends the range of a theory so important that its is painful to think what our understanding of the nervous system was like without it. "

Norman Doidge

"This remarkable volume underscores the vast scope of Porges's Polyvagal Theory, interpreted and applied to a diversity of disciplines and conditions. Highlighting that our most basic human need—to feel safe— is conditional on our autonomic state, Polyvagal Safety is a deeply engaging, innovative, and satisfying read. Infused with both compassion and science, it offers unexpected insights relevant to daily life as well as to various therapeutic settings, leaving the reader with a profound sense of the overarching significance of safe human connectedness. "

Pat Ogden

"Polyvagal Safety updates Dr. Porges's The Polyvagal Theory and elaborates its contributions to understanding the present moment. His transdisciplinary theory provides a brain-body neuroscience that emphasizes the embodied nature of the mind and underscores the fact that the body plays a central role in how people regulate. Polyvagal Safety explores the application of the theory and potential insights from the theory across a broad range of topics. "

Dr. Drew Pinsky