Episode 34: Polyvagal Lens on Attachment, Freeze and Functional Diseases with Dr. Stephen Porges

Listen to Episode 34 with Dr. Stephen Porges →

The Theory That Changed Everything

You've heard about the nervous system having sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. You learned fight or flight versus rest and digest in school. But that model is incomplete and misses critical pieces of how your nervous system actually works.

Polyvagal Theory changed how we understand the nervous system fundamentally. And today I'm talking with the man who developed it: Dr. Stephen Porges.

We bridge medicine, functional medicine, neuroscience, and trauma therapy in this conversation. Dr. Porges explains what his polyvagal lens reveals about attachment, freeze, and functional diseases. This conversation ties together everything we've explored on this podcast about the Biology of Trauma®.

Understanding Your Vagal Pathways

Your vagus nerve has two branches that operate differently with distinct functions. One branch supports social engagement and feelings of safety. The other branch controls shutdown and freeze responses. Understanding this distinction changes everything about how you approach trauma healing.

Dr. Porges breaks down what's actually happening in your body at the physiological level. How your nervous system reads safety or danger through neuroception happens beneath conscious awareness. Why certain responses are automatic rather than chosen becomes clear when you understand these pathways.

The ventral vagal pathway supports social engagement, face-to-face connection, calm states, and feelings of safety. When this pathway is active, you feel connected and capable of relationship. The dorsal vagal pathway controls shutdown responses, freeze states, conservation withdrawal, and immobilization. When this pathway takes over, you disconnect and shut down.

Traditional nervous system models didn't account for these two different vagal pathways. They lumped all parasympathetic activity together as "rest and digest." But Polyvagal Theory reveals that some parasympathetic states support connection while others create shutdown. This distinction is crucial for understanding trauma responses.

How Polyvagal Theory Explains Attachment and Freeze

Early attachment experiences shape which vagal pathways develop and become dominant. Whether you learn that social engagement feels safe depends on your early relational experiences. Whether you default to protection and shutdown reflects what your nervous system learned was necessary for survival.

Understanding freeze through the polyvagal lens reveals it's not laziness, avoidance, or lack of motivation. Freeze is a specific physiological state where your dorsal vagal complex takes over when fight or flight won't work. Your body immobilizes as a last-resort survival strategy when no other option exists.

Dr. Porges' work connects attachment theory with neuroscience in powerful ways. Secure attachment develops when the ventral vagal pathway is consistently activated through responsive caregiving. Insecure attachment patterns reflect nervous systems that learned social engagement is unsafe and default to protective states instead.

The polyvagal perspective on the Biology of Trauma® shows why some people shut down under stress while others fight or flee. Your nervous system's hierarchy of responses depends on which pathways developed most strongly. Early experiences literally wire your nervous system to respond in particular ways.

Polyvagal Theory and Functional Diseases

Many functional diseases involve vagal nerve dysfunction at their core. When your nervous system can't regulate properly through vagal pathways, your organs suffer consequences. This explains chronic conditions that medicine can't solve with standard treatments because the root cause is nervous system dysregulation.

Irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and many other functional diseases connect to vagal dysfunction. Your gut, heart, lungs, and other organs depend on vagal regulation. When trauma disrupts vagal function, these organs develop symptoms that don't respond to conventional treatment.

Dr. Porges' work bridges multiple disciplines that rarely communicate with each other. Medicine needs neuroscience to understand functional diseases. Therapy needs physiology to work effectively with trauma. Trauma work needs all of these perspectives integrated to address the full picture of how stored trauma affects the body.

Understanding polyvagal physiology changes how you approach healing completely. You can't override these pathways with willpower or positive thinking. You have to work with the biology of your nervous system by building ventral vagal capacity, creating safety that your nervous system recognizes, and supporting the physiological shifts required for healing.

Why This Matters for Your Healing

Polyvagal Theory provides the scientific framework for understanding what we address in the Biology of Trauma® approach. Your vagal pathways determine your capacity for connection, your response to stress, and your ability to regulate. Trauma disrupts these pathways and healing requires restoring their function.

Dr. Porges emphasizes that safety is the treatment for trauma rather than exposure or processing alone. Your nervous system needs to experience safety at the physiological level before it can heal. This happens through relationship, through co-regulation, and through experiences that activate ventral vagal pathways.

This conversation represents the foundation of nervous system science that underlies all trauma healing work. Whether you're healing yourself or supporting others, understanding polyvagal physiology gives you the roadmap for how healing actually happens in the body. You're not just managing symptoms but working with the biological systems that create those symptoms.

This Episode Is For:

✓ Anyone wanting to understand the science behind trauma responses 

✓ Practitioners integrating multiple modalities in their work 

✓ People curious about why their nervous system behaves the way it does 

✓ Those wanting to learn directly from the creator of Polyvagal Theory 

✓ Anyone interested in the neuroscience of attachment and trauma 

✓ Practitioners needing scientific grounding for their trauma work

What You'll Learn

Listen to hear directly from Dr. Stephen Porges about Polyvagal Theory and how it explains the physiology underlying attachment, freeze, and functional disease. Discover how your two vagal pathways create different nervous system states. Learn why understanding this biology is essential for effective trauma healing.

Your nervous system has its own logic that Polyvagal Theory finally explains.

Listen to Episode 34 with Dr. Stephen Porges →

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.

Join the Conversation

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. What resonated with you? What questions came up?

Please keep comments respectful and supportive. This is a community of people committed to healing. We welcome diverse perspectives and honest questions, but we don't tolerate personal attacks, spam, or content that could harm others on their healing journey.