Polyvagal Perspectives: Interventions, Practices, and Strategies

by Stephen W. Porges

From the originator of Polyvagal Theory, new writings on applying a polyvagal perspective across disciplines.


Polyvagal Theory has revolutionized our understanding of the autonomic nervous system’s profound impact on various aspects of life, including sociality, emotional regulation, cognitive functions, and overall mental and physical well-being. Through rigorous academic testing, the theory’s applications have expanded into diverse fields such as psychotherapy, medicine, education, and performance. Exploring these broad applications revealed that Polyvagal Theory transcends its initial scope, and that the principles embedded in the theory could be applied as a generalized lens across various disciplines.


In this volume, Dr. Stephen W. Porges—the originator of Polyvagal Theory—presents a collection of recent writings that showcase the wide-ranging applications of the polyvagal perspective. The writings update the theory and delve into sociality, safety and threat, trauma, functional medicine, vagal nerve stimulation, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, addiction, compassion, management, and dance movement therapy. This newest volume of Dr. Porges’s work demonstrates how adopting a polyvagal perspective enriches our understanding of biobehavioral processes in diverse domains.

335 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2024

Reviews

[Adri · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 79%. Steven Porges thoroughly pisses me off. I am disgusted by how they treated Anna, the little girl with FND, and her parents. Her parents wanted no medication, the care team pushed for medication with no valid backing and Anna experienced side effects. She was suffering and they told these parents to ignore their child’s pain completely. She was having adverse effects due to bad experiences at school and they forced her to go back. There is absolutely no reason to read this book. You probably know most of what’s in here, and anything you may not know you are better off getting from other sources. This book is both an absolute drag and offensive. I was gonna tough it through just because so much in the world of chronic illness/EDS/dysautonomia/mental health is referring to PVT as being a foundational source of information right now, but then I was introduced to the following article, a formal criticism of PVT, and I have zero desire left for this garbage. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles...

[Whilliam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a huge polyvagal theory nerd, I had to read this book. To my disappointment I discovered relatively little new information, although there were a few interesting perspectives.

The book is marred by a few instances of using the theory to pass moral judgment (as in the case of people opting against Covid vaccination) or to fluffily and needlessly describing the state of Putin as seen from your couch pillow.

I love the polyvagal theory for its contribution to teaching people about empathy, compassion and self-care. Using it to shame people and pass moral judgment is not a good look.

[Lauren Stutts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense reading for non-scientists