THE POLYVAGAL THEORY IN THERAPY: The Polyvagal Theory: How To Activate Your Body's Natural Healing Power To Reduce Anxiety, Trauma, And Depression (Norton Series On Interpersonal Neurobiology Audiobook Download by Ryker Placid

The Polyvagal Theory: How To Activate Your Body's Natural Healing Power To Reduce Anxiety, Trauma, And Depression

The Polyvagal Theory uses the word "polyvagal" to describe your nervous system's reaction to stimuli such as a threatening face from someone in an argument. The response of the nervous system is different depending on whether or not you are in danger. The theory suggests that individuals who are more likely to respond with fear and anxiety are less able to switch into the sympathetic state, which facilitates healing.

The Polyvagal Theory is a theory that expands on the idea of autonomic nervous system (ANS) and how it affects mental health, behavior, and emotion. The ANS is made up of three primary branches: the sympathetic (fight or flight), parasympathetic (rest and digest), and enteric nervous systems. The theory suggests that in times of stress or trauma people tend to shut down one or more systems while simultaneously activating others. A decrease in one system may lead to increased reactivity in another, which can increase symptoms such as anxiety, hypervigilance, psychosis, etc.

The Polyvagal Theory was introduced by John D. Sarno, MD, who argues that anxiety and depression are the result of a physiological constriction of the vagus nerve, which is responsible for stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The PNS controls our heart rate and our tendencies to get tired, meaning that when it's at its most active, our body is most relaxed. The theory focuses on how you can activate the PNS and reduce anxiety, trauma and depression in order to get back into balance.

The Polyvagal Theory, or 'The Vagus' for short, is the idea that our body has both a sympathetic and a parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system doesn't understand fear or anxiety it only deals with action. Because of this, if we have a sympathetic nervous system that is constantly in action mode we can easily get stuck on overdrive and experience high levels of stress, anxiety and trauma. We need to calm down the sympathetic nervous system and activate our parasympathetic nervous system. This will enable us to take advantage of the healing power of both systems at the same time to reduce anxiety and trauma.

Cortisol is a chemical created by the adrenal gland and it plays a major role in turning on or turning off the fight-or-flight response. High production of cortisol can actually contribute to anxiety disorders. The Polyvagal Theory helps with this, as it aims to restore healthy brain function through restoring balance and integration in the autonomic nervous system.