Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T04:45:59.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Making the World Safe for our Children: Down-regulating Defence and Up-regulating Social Engagement to ‘Optimise’ the Human Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2015

Stephen W. Porges
Stephen W. Porges*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
*
address for correspondence: Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. E-mail: stephen_porges@med.unc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Polyvagal Theory helps us understand how cues of risk and safety, which are continuously monitored by our nervous system, influence our physiological and behavioral states. The theory emphasizes that humans are on a quest to calm neural defense systems by detecting features of safety. This quest is initiated at birth when the infant needs for being soothed are dependent on the caregiver. The quest continues throughout the lifespan with needs for trusting friendships and loving partnerships to effectively co-regulate each other. The Polyvagal Theory proposes that through the process of evolution, social connectedness evolved as the primary biological imperative for mammals in their quest for survival. Functionally, social connectedness enabled proximity and co-regulation of physiological state between conspecifics starting with the mother-infant relationship and extending through the lifespan with other significant partners. The theory explains why feeling safe requires a unique set of cues to the nervous system that are not equivalent to physical safety or the removal of threat. The theory emphasizes the importance of safety cues emanating through reciprocal social interactions that dampen defense and how these cues can be distorted or optimized by environmental and bodily cues.

Keywords

Polyvagal Theoryneuroceptionsocial engagement systemsocial behaviorco-regulationsafety
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 40 , Special Issue 2: CONSILIENCE IN ACTION - LESSONS FROM AN INTERNATIONAL CHILDHOOD TRAUMA CONFERENCE , June 2015 , pp. 114 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berens, A., & Nelson, C. A. (2015). The science of early adversity: Is there a role for large institutions in the care of vulnerable children? Lancet, pii, S0140-6736(14)61131-4. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61131-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, C. (1872). De la physiologie générale. Paris: Librairie Hachette.Google Scholar
Berthoud, H. R., & Neuhuber, W. L. (2000). Functional and chemical anatomy of the afferent vagal system. Autonomic Neuroscience, 85 (1), 1–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowlby, J. (1953). Child care and the growth of love. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Cannon, W. B. (1932). Wisdom of the body. New York: W.W. Norton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3 (8), 655–666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C. (1859). On the origins of species by means of natural selection. London: Murray.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. (1962). Mankind evolving. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., . . . Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14 (4), 245–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flaherty, E. G., Thompson, R., Litrownik, A. J., Zolotor, A. J., Dubowitz, H., Runyan, D. K., . . . Everson, M. D. (2009). Adverse childhood exposures and reported child health at age 12. Academic Pediatrics, 9 (3), 150–156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, J. H. (1958). Evolution and dissolution of the nervous system. In Taylor, J. (Ed.), Selected writings of John Hughlings Jackson (pp. 45–118). London: Stapes Press.Google Scholar
Koizumi, A., Tanaka, A., Imai, H., Hiramatsu, S., Hiramoto, E., Sato, T., & de Gelder, B. (2011). The effects of anxiety on the interpretation of emotion in the face–voice pairs. Experimental Brain Research, 213 (2–3), 275–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molnar, B. E., Gortmaker, S. L., Bull, F. C., & Buka, S. L. (2004). Unsafe to play? Neighborhood disorder and lack of safety predict reduced physical activity among urban children and adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion, 18 (5), 378–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinheiro, P. S. (2006). World report on violence against children. United Nations Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children. New York: United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/violencestudy/I.%20World%20Report%20on%20Violence%20against%20Children.pdfGoogle Scholar
Porges, S. W. (1993). The infant's sixth sense: Awareness and regulation of bodily processes. Zero to Three: Bulletin of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, 14, 12–16.Google Scholar
Porges, S.W. (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage. A Polyvagal Theory. Psychophysiology, 32, 301–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porges, S.W. (2001). The Polyvagal Theory: Phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42, 123–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2004). Neuroception: A subconscious system for detecting threat and safety. Zero to Three: Bulletin of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, 24 (5), 19–24.Google Scholar
Porges, S. W. (2007). The polyvagal perspective. Biological Psychology, 74, 116–143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2009). The polyvagal theory: New insights into adaptive reactions of the autonomic nervous system. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 76, S86–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Porges, S. W., Bazhenova, O. V., Bal, E., Carlson, N., Sorokin, Y., Heilman, K. J., . . . Lewis, G. F. (2014). Reducing auditory hypersensitivities in autistic spectrum disorder: Preliminary findings evaluating the Listening Project Protocol. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 2, 80. doi:10.3389/fped.2014.00080CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porges, S. W., Doussard-Roosevelt, J. A., Portales, A. L., & Greenspan, S. I. (1997). Infant regulation of the vagal ‘brake’ predicts child behavior problems: A psychobiological model of social behavior. Developmental Psychobiology, 29 (8), 697–712.3.0.CO;2-O>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porges, S. W., & Furman, S. A. (2011). The early development of the autonomic nervous system provides a neural platform for social behavior: A polyvagal perspective. Infant and Child Development, 20, 106–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, S. W., & Lewis, G. F. (2009). The polyvagal hypothesis: Common mechanisms mediating autonomic regulation, vocalizations, and listening. In Brudzynski, S. M. (Ed.), Handbook of mammalian vocalizations: An integrative neuroscience approach (pp. 255–264). Amsterdam: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sachis, P. N., Armstrong, D. L., Becker, L. E., & Bryan, A. C. (1982). Myelination of the human vagus nerve from 24 weeks postconceptional age to adolescence. Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, 41 (4), 466–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shonkoff, J. P., Siegel, B. S., Garner, A. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., Mcguinn, L., Pascoe, J., & Wood, D. L. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129 (1), e232–246. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2663.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shonkoff, J. P., & Phillips, D. A. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Stewart, A. M., Lewis, G. F., Heilman, K. J., Davila, M. I., Coleman, D. D., Aylward, S. A., & Porges, S. W. (2013). The covariation of acoustic features of infant cries and autonomic state. Physiology and Behavior, 120, 203–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stewart, A. M., Lewis, G. F., Yee, J. R., Kenkel, W. M., Davila, M., Carter, C. S., & Porges, S. W. (2015). Acoustic features of prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) ultrasonic vocalizations covary with heart rate. Physiology and Behavior, 138, 94–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed