EP111 - Dr. Stephen W. Porges on ADHD

THE CHRONICALLY THREATENED is an eye-opening episode with the creator of the Polyvagal Theory, Dr. Stephen Porges. In this episode, Dr. Porges and I talked about how the Polyvagal Theory relates to ADHD and why there is nothing 'wrong' with children who have been diagnosed with these so-called mental disorders (ADHD, ODD, Anxiety, Depression etc.). What if all these children were simply dealing with a nervous system that's locked in 'threat mode', due to chronically occurring traumatic events occurring in their environments. Now, when parents hear words such as threats or trauma, they typically only think of actual threats such as violence, divorce, abuse etc. But as Dr. Porges explains, for a highly sensitive child not much is needed to lock their nervous system while in threat mode... Listen in and hear for yourself to see if you can relate to what Dr. Porges shares around ADHD and his Polyvagal Theory. Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium within the Kinsey Institute.  He holds the position of Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland.  Dr. Porges served as president of both the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award.  He has published approximately 300 peer reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, psychometrics, space medicine, and substance abuse. His research has been cited in approximately 40,000 peer review publications. In 1994 Dr. Porges proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders. He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton, 2017),co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018), and Polyvagal Safety (Norton, expected 2021). Dr. Porges is also the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol™, which currently is used by more than 2000 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, and to improve language processing, state regulation, and spontaneous social engagement. For more information on Dr. Stephen W. Porges, please visit https://www.stephenporges.com For more information on this podcast, please visit www.adhdisover.com