9: Prof. Stephen Porges - How safe do you feel? Revolutionising mental health with the Polyvagal Theory

<p>Professor Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory shows how the state of our nervous system determines our mental (and physical) health.</p> <p>He proposes a new paradigm in which mental illness is the result of our bodies’ reaction to a prolonged experience of threat, provoking a biochemical cascade which reduces our capacity for health, growth and repair.</p> <p>He urges us to listen to our bodies as much as we listen to our minds, and to build more nervous-system informed relationships and institutions, for better mental health.</p>