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Traumatic stress and the autonomic brain‐gut connection in development: Polyvagal Theory as an integrative framework for psychosocial and gastrointestinal pathology
Author(s) -
Kolacz Jacek,
Kovacic Katja K.,
Porges Stephen W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21852
Subject(s) - socioemotional selectivity theory , psychophysiology , anxiety , psychosocial , psychology , allostasis , autonomic nervous system , autonomic function , clinical psychology , neuroscience , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , medicine , heart rate variability , heart rate , blood pressure , radiology
A range of psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post‐traumatic stress disorder frequently co‐occur with functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Risk of these pathologies is particularly high in those with a history of trauma, abuse, and chronic stress. These scientific findings and rising awareness within the healthcare profession give rise to a need for an integrative framework to understand the developmental mechanisms that give rise to these observations. In this paper, we introduce a plausible explanatory framework, based on the Polyvagal Theory (Porges, Psychophysiology , 32 , 301–318, 1995; Porges, International Journal of Psychophysiology , 42 , 123–146, 2001; Porges, Biological Psychology , 74 , 116–143, 2007), which describes how evolution impacted the structure and function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The Polyvagal Theory provides organizing principles for understanding the development of adaptive diversity in homeostatic, threat‐response, and psychosocial functions that contribute to pathology. Using these principles, we outline possible mechanisms that promote and maintain socioemotional and GI dysfunction and review their implications for therapeutic targets.