Polyvagal Theory and the Developing Child

How sustained disruptions to childrens safety have physical, behavioral, and mental health impact that follow them into adulthood.At its heart, polyvagal theory describes how the brains unconscious sense of safety or danger impacts our emotions and behaviors. In this powerful book, pediatrician and neonatologist Marilyn R. Sanders and child psychiatrist George S. Thompson offer readers both a meditation on caregiving and a call to action for physicians, educators, and mental health providers. When children dont have safe relationships, or emotional, medical, or physical traumas punctuate their lives, their ability to love, trust, and thrive is damaged. Children who have multiple relationship disruptions may have physical, behavioral, or mental health concerns that follow them into adulthood.By attending to the lessons of polyvagal theorythat adult caregivers must be aware of childrens unconscious processing of sensory informationthe authors show how professionals can play a critical role in establishing a sense of safety even in the face of dangerous, and sometimes incomprehensibly scary, situations.