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Porges’ Video Discourages Therapists From Taking Polyvagal Theory Seriously
With even minimal knowledge of anatomy and physiology, therapists should find How Polyvagal Theory Expands Our Healing Paradigm ridiculous. Yet, polyvagal theory is extremely popular.
My searching for information about Stephen Porges and polyvagal theory on the Internet has triggered algorithms that exaggerate my sense of how “big” a phenomenon he is.
Polyvagal theory seems all the rage in mind-body therapies. According to Wikipedia:
Polyvagal theory (poly- “many” + vagal “wandering”) is a collection of evolutionary, neuroscientific and psychological claims pertaining to the role of the vagus nerve in emotion regulation, social connection and fear response. While not endorsed by state-of-the-art social neuroscience,[1][2][3][4][5][6] it is nevertheless popular among some clinical practitioners and patients.[7]
Links to commercial websites offering signups for presentations and workshops on polyvagal theory are now driven to the top of my search results. Less commercial sites with scientific and critical content are driven downward and off the first screen. It is easy to miss these valuable sites or find anyone who is more…