Polyvagal Theory (PVT) can be very helpful in understanding our behavior, thoughts, impulses and body responses because our physiology responds according to the nervous system state that we are in. Before the 1990s, the autonomic, or automatic, nervous system was thought of as two parts: the sympathetic nervous system of fight or flight and the parasympathetic nervous system of rest and digest.

Dr. Stephen Porges proposed the three-part PVT model of the autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic response of fight or flight (running through the spine), the parasympathetic response of shut down and collapse (running through the dorsal branch of the vagus nerve), and the parasympathetic response of social engagement and connection (running through the ventral branch of the vagus nerve).

The three pillars of PVT include the hierarchy of these three nervous system states or patterns being activated in a certain order; neuroception, or how our nervous system scans for cues of danger and safety to internal, external and relational signals; and coregulation, the importance of having another safe and trustworthy person we can really connect with to help bring our nervous system into balance.

To sum up, social engagement means safe, calm, connected, grounded; sympathetic or fight/flight means frustrated to raging or anxious to terrified; and parasympathetic means depressed, suicidal, shut-down, immobile, collapsed. Our nervous system can also exist in blended states such as during the freeze response, healthy rest or playing with others.

All of these states are normal and helpful to help us survive threats or to live our lives. However, when the threats are overwhelming and we become stuck too often or too deeply in fight/flight/freeze or shutdown/collapse, we can run into many physical, emotional, mental and relational problems. 

Evan Ritter is the owner of Mountain and Meadow Health and a certified Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercise (TRE) provider. For appointments and more information, call 570-259-0625, email [email protected] or visit MountainAndMeadowHealth.com.