Lindsey A.’s Reviews > Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies > Status Update
Lindsey A.
is on page 16 of 464
I need to sit with this one for a minute. Oof. This one !! 💡
• “Trauma was created by a betrayal of trust, a rupture within the context of a relationship, and by someone who was supposed to care for and protect the client.”
—> Attachment Theory
• “Hence, it was assumed that empathy, and the building of a caring relationship, were necessary and sufficient to repair the trauma…”
—> Notes below:
— Apr 19, 2024 12:05PM
• “Trauma was created by a betrayal of trust, a rupture within the context of a relationship, and by someone who was supposed to care for and protect the client.”
—> Attachment Theory
• “Hence, it was assumed that empathy, and the building of a caring relationship, were necessary and sufficient to repair the trauma…”
—> Notes below:
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Lindsey A.
is on page 12 of 464
“Respiratory sinus arrhythmia: a paradoxical and opposite response, the heart rate actually decreased on inhalation and increased on exhalation”
—> measured by “vagal tone”
— Apr 19, 2024 11:16AM
—> measured by “vagal tone”
Lindsey A.
is on page 9 of 464
“We help contain these erratic fluctuations by SLOWING DOWN THEIR EXPERIENCE (how??) and CURBING THEIR INTENSITY (how??). As a person is able to experience a sense of control of their arousal (hyperarousal and/or hypoarousal), they renegotiate their relationship to the trauma”
—> this makes me think of how it’s helpful to be around models of “less reactive” responses
—> but how else is this fostered??
— Apr 19, 2024 10:47AM
—> this makes me think of how it’s helpful to be around models of “less reactive” responses
—> but how else is this fostered??
Lindsey A.
is starting
“… the profound disruptive impact of trauma on a significant portion of the population…. survivors of trauma often go through life without the opportunity to understand their bodily reaction to trauma or to recover the ability to regulate and co-regulate their physiological and behavioral state…. many are revictimized when discussing their experiences…”
— Apr 19, 2024 10:43AM
Lindsey A.
is starting
“Somatic Experiencing” & “Sensorimotor Psychotherapy”
—> bringing awareness to sensations, accessing and managing implicit memories
— Apr 19, 2024 10:40AM
—> bringing awareness to sensations, accessing and managing implicit memories
Lindsey A.
is starting
“A critical component of the polyvagal theory is focused on the show in neural regulation of the heart…. The neural regulation of the vertebrate ANS progressed through three global stages”
1. Calmed and cued others to calm; vagal pathway
2. Mobilization - fight or flight; PNS & adrenals
3. Ancient immobilization circuit - rapidly shutting down; vagal pathway, originating from brain stem area different from #1
— Apr 19, 2024 10:03AM
1. Calmed and cued others to calm; vagal pathway
2. Mobilization - fight or flight; PNS & adrenals
3. Ancient immobilization circuit - rapidly shutting down; vagal pathway, originating from brain stem area different from #1
Lindsey A.
is starting
The polyvagal theory provides people who have experienced trauma, “an understanding of how, after experiencing life-threat, their neural reactions were retuned toward a defensive bias and they lost the resilience to return to safety.”
Talking about resilience reminds me of Berne Brown’s “Dearing Greatly,” in which she emphasizes the importance of building resilience….
— Apr 19, 2024 09:57AM
Talking about resilience reminds me of Berne Brown’s “Dearing Greatly,” in which she emphasizes the importance of building resilience….
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“… needs to be worked with by gradually deconstructing the psychophysiological and postural shame state and reconstructing those of pride and dignity” —> Again, this makes me think of Berne Brown’s shame research!
Avoidance of eye contact <—> vagal shutdown (hypoarousal)—> “they will perceive nearly everything in their external environment as a life-threat, and they will continue to perceive this overwhelming threat until their internal state changes.”
—> compared to “the avoidance of eye contact by pret… direct eye contact by prey is very likely to incite a lethal attack”
—> this was also mentioned in the book “Not Nice” (!!)
“Until this pattern is altered (deconstructed and renegotiated) it is difficult, if not impossible to exit those debilitating shame states. Hence for these reasons, the therapist should not initially try to engage eye contact or make too many compassionate, contact-full, reflective statements” (!!!!!!) 💡🤯
—> “the kind, empathetic face, with its invitation to eye contact seemed to make the traumatized subjects feel worse…. activates postural and psychophysiological states of shame, including:
1. Acute vasodilation
2. Loss of muscular Tony’s
3. Loss of vital energy
4. Averting the eyes(!!)”
—> Difficulty/uncomfortability with eye gaze is often discussed with nerodivergent individuals with ASD, but I always wondered why it’s also common for people to have difficulty making eye contact when they’re stressed. It’s the TRAUMA. Often, clinical supervisors/directors and other therapists have commented on this with me when I’m stressed, and I’ve never been able to explain it.
—> I remember when watching crime shows as a child, they also mentioned that people may avert their eyes if they’re lying. But, eye gaze is SO MUCH MORE complex for social communication skills than most people realize.
—> For early speech-language development, eye gaze and joint attention are also often listed as pre-linguistic skills, but more recently neurodiversity affirming clinicians have made arguments that it’s not necessary
—> For adults, experiencing this trauma response, it seems like these “shame states” are impacting their communication skills in these moments(??)