Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, Anxiety, Trauma, Beyond fight/flight

October 23, 2022
Naomi

What is polyvagal theory?

Polyvagal theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, Ph.D, looks at how our body senses safety in our environment and then automatically responds to those cues to keep us safe.

If you’ve ever watched a nature documentary that shows gazelles in a grassy field grazing happily together, this is the state of feeling calm, safe and connected to the herd. This is called the Ventral Vagal, or for a simpler way to think about it, the green state. Once a lion enters the picture, everything changes. Once a gazelle senses the movement in the grass and that it is a predator, the entire herd takes note and their nervous systems kick into gear to assess the scene and make a decision of “fight or flight”. This is the sympathetic mobilization state, or we can call it the orange light. As their nervous systems mobilize, they go into flight mode and start to run. If one is caught, it might go into fight mode and try to kick but if that doesn’t work and their nervous system determines that it is a hopeless situation, they go limp. This is called the dorsal vagal state, or red light, where their nervous system protects them from the experience of their imminent death or freezes until it’s safe to mobilize again. If the lion gets distracted and accidentally drops the gazelle, then the gazelle’s sympathetic nervous system kicks in again and it goes into flight mode and runs away to safety to join the rest of its herd.

Polyvagal Theory helps us understand that our behaviors are manifestations of how our nervous systems assess and respond to cues and how these reactions might have helped us survive in the past. These adaptive survival responses become habitual and often continue into adulthood bringing us into states of fight and flight, freeze, and even fawn, which is a combination of several pathways, even when we don’t need these states currently to survive in those moments. Once we can recognize how these responses helped us get through difficult experiences and how they are still showing up now, we can work on becoming more aware of which state we are in and work on rewiring our nervous system to more accurately assess danger in our current environment rather than responding to old cues which may have been dangerous in the past but aren’t anyore. For example, if you were walking down the street when it was raining and there was classical music playing and dog named Bob ran across the street and nipped your leg, your body might associate danger, Bob biting you, with all dogs and now go into orange mode every time you see a dog, even if it’s not Bob. Your nervous system might even go so far as to associate danger with rain, classical music, and walking down the street which might lead you to decide to avoid walking down the street when it’s raining, avoid stores or friends who play classical music or all dogs because of the mobilized sympathetic, or orange light response you experience due to the association that past event with Bob has created.

Why is it called Polyvagal Theory? The vagus nerve, which is the longest nerve in the autonomic nervous system, stretches from the brainstem to the colon. Our brain and nervous system are constantly taking in information from our environment, helping us to assess if we are safe or in danger. This is called “neuroception”. The body receives input from its senses, then determines what level of safety or danger or life threat it is under.

According to Deb Dana, our neuroception system has a built in surveillance system that watches for cues of safety and warnings about danger. We have awareness scanning the inside, outside and between. When we listen inside we may notice our breath and our heartbeat. When we listen outside we are looking at our environment around us and even further than that, we may look at our community and extend out to the world. Listening between is the dynamic between our nervous system and someone else’s nervous system or even groups of people. Neuroception is a process that is always running in the background and brings on the autonomic changes that might bring us into connection with other people or might direct us into fight, flight, freeze, collapse, and fawn modes. When there is a needed shift detected, the body automatically shifts into one of the three basic states without our conscious choice. As our body takes in information automatically through neuroception, the vagus nerve processes the signals and cues from our environment and determines what our physiological response will be.

The Three Main physiological responses:

ventral vagal-more easily known as green light, or in Porges Porridge Theory, Just right.
Sympathetic Mobilization, orange light, or is porridge that is too hot
dorsal vagal, red light, or in porridge terms, is too cold.

Ventral Vagal, or green light “just right”, is when we feel safe and connected and calm and social. Who are the people who you feel safe with? What are those places and activities?

Our sympathetic state, or orange light “too hot’, is when we feel threatened or in danger and our fight or flight urge kicks in, or we feel hypervigilant and anxious, neuroception signs of danger. When do you experience sympathetic mobilization?

Dorsal vagal, or red light “too cold,” is when we are immobilized, frozen, and we surrender in preparation for death. This might feel like being very shut down, overwhelmed, hopeless, numb, and depressed, neuroception signs of threat to life. Are there situations or times when you have experienced these states?

Fawning is a mixed state of Fight and Flight and Freeze activation which often results in a behavior meant to bring us closer in connection to someone in order to keep ourselves safe. We both feel anxious and in danger and engage in behavior to mollify the person that we do not feel safe with. This is a fairly complex nervous system state and requires a blog all on its own!

What is Co-regulation and what does it have to do with Polyvagal Theory?
Co-regulation is another important aspect of incorporating Polyvagal Theory into therapy. When we are born we need others to care for us. Not only do we need a caregiver to provide us with food and shelter, when a caregiver attunes to our needs or ignores our needs – these experiences of co-regulation offer a foundation for regulating ourselves and help shape if we feel safe with other people. Co-regulation is at the core of our relationships. According to Polyvagal theory, it is the reciprocal sending and receiving of signals of safety. The connection between two nervous systems can nurture, nourish, and regulate each other, the same way they can dysregulate each other. If a friend or even your child or parent is feeling very anxious and telling you all of the things they are worried about, you might find yourself feeling anxious as well as you share your concerns and it continues to escalate. Alternatively, if you are the anxious one and you share all of your worries and instead of becoming anxious themselves, they listen intently paying close attention to you and your worries, help you pause, take slow breaths together, and even give you a hug, you might find that their calm helps you feel calmer and more grounded. This is co-regulation and something that happens in therapy as well. In therapy, we can work to develop mindful awareness of our body sensations and when we might be shifting into different states, we can practice ways to move out of the orange and red states and into the green state of ventral vagal safety and connection.

Find out more about polyvagal theory here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIQRxwT1I0

https://fpg.unc.edu/sites/fpg.unc.edu/files/resources/reports-and-policy-briefs/Co-RegulationFromBirthThroughYoungAdulthood.pdf

Books:

Stephen Porges:

https://www.tatteredcover.com/book/9780393707878

https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Guide-Polyvagal-Theory-Transformative/dp/0393707873/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1666469294&sr=1-3

Deb Dana:

https://www.amazon.com/Anchored-Befriend-Nervous-System-Polyvagal/dp/1683647068/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=

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