Professor Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory shows how the state of our nervous system determines our mental (and physical) health.
He proposes a new paradigm in which mental illness is the result of our bodies’ reaction to a prolonged experience of threat, provoking a biochemical cascade which reduces our capacity for health, growth and repair.
He urges us to listen to our bodies as much as we listen to our minds, and to build more nervous-system informed relationships and institutions, for better mental health.
The MindHealth360 Show