Stephen Porges: Mindfulness & co-regulation

In this conversation, we explore a paradigm shift and its implications.  “The whole history of the study of mental and psychological processes has been so focused on the individual’s responses, yet the individual’s responses are being framed and interacting through a connectedness with others.” The Polyvagal theory developed by Stephen Porges “forces an attention away from the individual to the individual within context.” In this context, mindful self-regulation may be better described as co-regulation. This far-ranging conversation also touches on the importance of listening to others and to our own bodily feelings, how we deal with threat and find safety. In addition to the audio, there is also a printable PDF transcript. Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he directs the Trauma Research Center within the Kinsey Institute. He holds the position of Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of both the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 250 peer‐reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, space medicine, and substance abuse. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. See printable PDF transcript. See also conversation with Stephen Porges about the Polyvagal theory. Published September 2016