The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)

Perhaps our misunderstanding of the role of safety is based on an assumption that we think we know what safety means.

From a Polyvagal perspective, deficits in feeling safe form the core biobehavioral feature that leads to mental and physical illness.

traumatized individuals do not seek novelty and don’t have a path to safety.

Let’s rank people based on their ability to co-regulate with other individuals

When we respect our body’s responses, we move from this more evaluative state, we become more respectful of ourselves, and this functionally contributes to the healing process.

Psychiatrists are basically trained as applied psychopharmacologists with a belief that drugs can target the specific disorder that they are treating without the conceptualization that drugs affect neural feedback loops and affect many systems in the body.

There is a problem when we use the immobilization circuit for defense, since our nervous system doesn’t have an efficient pathway to get out of it.

drop in blood pressure,

Neuroception is not a cognitive process;