Dr. Stephen Porges discovered in 1994 that trauma
in humans comes from our most ancient "reptilian"
freeze reflex, which our brains share with some very
low life forms. He calls it the Polyvagal Theory.
Humans aren't made to be pushed into such survival
threat, that this primitive reflex takes over. So trauma
can be lethal in humans. In fact, Porges says, "If a life
threat puts a human into this state, it may be very
difficult to become 'normal' again."
Until 1994, textbooks taught that we have just two main nervous systems: sympathetic, which mobilizes us for fight and flight, and parasympathetic which damps the sympathetic and nicely calms us down.
Porges says the model broke down when he discovered the parasympathetic vagus nerve could also kill human babies.
But never fear: Porges also figured out how to use our mammalian attachment system to heal all this. READ MORE: http://attachmentdisorderheali...om/porges-polyvagal/
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