I’m going to try to keep this short, sweet and to the point. Because I could go on FOREVER about the ins and outs of polyvagal therapy and how much it can change lives.
When you think about the autonomic nervous system, what immediately comes to mind? You may have a fuzzy recollection from a distant biology class that leads you to feel like this system is somehow important for survival. You would be right.
So what is polyvagal therapy, anyway? If you have experienced trauma and traditional talk therapy has done very little to help, polyvagal therapy may be a perfect fit for you.
Polyvagal therapy is informed by polyvagal theory which in a nutshell defines the way in which the autonomic nervous system (ANS) works. More specifically, polyvagal theory describes how the ANS reacts to the world around us and regulates our cognitive, emotional and physical responses. The ability to respond and recover from the challenges of daily living is a marker of well-being and depends on the flexibility of the ANS.
A polyvagal approach to therapy is based on the concept that the ANS is shaped by early experience and can be re-shaped by ongoing experience. Polyvagal therapy works with the idea that habitual response patterns can be interrupted, and that new patterns can be established.
From the moment we enter the world, our nervous system scans the environment for cues of both safety and danger. As we grow, our nervous systems also need to learn to effectively co-regulate with others. When trauma occurs in childhood, this development is stunted. If trauma is experienced during adulthood, the nervous system often re-wires itself, in a sense, losing its ability to respond effectively to the world and others around us.
So what does this mean for how we feel, think and behave? Well, trauma can cause the nervous system to stay stuck in a state of fight or flight. Others experience a seemingly perpetual state of total collapse, emotional numbness and detachment. You may also find yourself oscillating back and forth between fight or flight and collapse, finding it hard to feel neutral, or even just OK. When this is the case, many describe feeling out of control with their emotions and physiology, and describe significant emotional instability.
The clinical world has long considered trauma a psychological phenomenon and has operated under the assumption that the mind controls the body. This is why talk therapy has been the go-to “treatment” for trauma. Recently however, there has been a growing acknowledgement that trauma and pain are stored in the body, and mental health care providers are starting to understand why traditional talk therapy and cognitive reprocessing is ineffective for so many trauma survivors.
Polyvagal therapy focuses on how the body has stored trauma and how the nervous system has been affected by these experiences. Polyvagal therapy teaches us how to shift out of survival mode and into safe mode by stabilizing the nervous system. The best part is, we don’t even have to re-process traumatic events unless that is also one of your specific goals.
Here is a general guide to the work involved in polyvagal therapy. First, we review the three different branches of the autonomic nervous system and how they operate. We then work on getting to know how your nervous system is currently functioning by identifying the thoughts, behaviours and physical sensations that you experience within each state. As a side note, these aspects are often considered the symptoms that bring people to therapy because they can cause significant impairment to daily functioning and relationships. Next, we learn to spend more time in a more neutral state where safety, growth and connection with others is possible. We will also learn and practice nervous system flexibility so that you can respond effectively to danger but also more readily recognize cues of safety.
It’s important to note that polyvagal therapy is considered a starting point, or a gateway therapy. We must first stabilize the nervous system so that we can engage meaningfully in additional therapies that teach skills and tools to create enjoyable, fulfilling lives. Think about it. If every time you sit down for a therapy session, you’re in a state of fight or flight complete shutdown, you probably won’t get much out of therapy. Polyvagal therapy has been the missing piece for so many of my clients who have tried therapy after therapy, therapist after therapist and had very little hope in terms of ever feeling better. I recommend starting with polyvagal therapy and then moving on to therapies like dialectical behaviour therapy, attachment focused therapy, parts/internal family systems therapy, schema therapy or interpersonal psychotherapy.
If you’re interested in starting polyvagal therapy, connect with OPS today to experience the difference that stabilizing your nervous system can make.
Here are some additional resources if you would like to learn more about polyvagal theory:
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