The Polyvagal Theory in our understanding of safety and danger: How our body holds on to our experiences.

The polyvagal theory provides a broader and holistic understanding of the biology and evolution of safety and danger by suggesting how social interaction shapes the way we think, feel, and act, as well as how we shift from one emotional state to the other. Together with the acknowledgment of three adaptive Autonomic nervous system mechanisms, an evolutionary shift from ancient reptiles to mammals unravels a new mammalian system with emergent properties to facilitate social interaction, called the social engagement system. By adapting an evolutionary point of view, accompanied by modern findings of the relationship between overwhelming experiences and trauma we are better equipped to understand the mental impact of such experiences on people’s behaviors actions and reactions, and most strikingly, how they can physically alter the body’s homeostasis and manifest into disease.