Book Review: The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy

In her new book, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation, Deb Dana offers a window into the inner life of a traumatized person and a way out of trauma and back to finding joy, connection, and safety through enlightening theory, rich experiential practice, and practical steps. “The autonomic nervous system,” Deb Dana writes, “responds to challenges in daily life by telling us not what we are or who we are, but how we are.” Informing, guiding, and regulating our experiences, the autonomic nervous system tells us when we are safe and can proceed forward and when we are under threat and should retreat. However, when trauma disrupts our experience, it also disrupts the autonomic nervous system, and the result is dysregulation, the interruption of the ability to feel safe. “Trauma compromises our ability to engage with others by replacing patterns of connection with patterns of protection,” Dana explains. Because our lived experience relies on our autonomic nervous system’s ability to detect safety — a term known as neuroception — when the autonomic nervous system becomes disrupted, it affects everything about how we move through the world, interact with those around us, and attune to ourselves and the world around us. Yet trauma survivors are often judged by their actions. Dana writes, “We still too often blame the victim if they didn’t fight or try to escape but instead collapsed into submission. We make a j...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Book Reviews Disorders General Memory and Perception Neuroscience Psychology Psychotherapy Stigma Stress Trauma Treatment Autonomic Nervous System Deb Dana Polyvagal Theory Source Type: news