Polyvagal Theory in Psychotherapeutic Practice

Continuing education for psychologists and psychotherapists.

Since Stephen Porges first formulated it in 1994, polyvagal theory has reshaped how we think about the autonomic nervous system, about trauma, and about what actually happens between two people in the consulting room. Across eight modules, this course gives you a complete route for bringing that theoretical and clinical shift into everyday practice.

What you will learn. From Porges’s hierarchical three-level model to concrete interventions — via polyvagal assessment, a trauma-informed autonomic reading, therapeutic co-regulation and the therapist’s own regulation — you will learn to:

• identify the three autonomic states — ventral vagal, sympathetic, dorsal vagal — in patients as they sit in front of you
• carry out a polyvagal assessment using four observational markers and four key interview questions
• refresh your clinical reading of trauma through the notion of the frozen autonomic response
• connect the polyvagal lens with attachment theory (Bowlby, Ainsworth, Main) and with Jeffrey Young’s schema therapy
• put your prosody, facial expression and bodily rhythm to work as instruments of co-regulation
• track your own autonomic state and spot countertransferential contagion when it happens
• deploy state-specific interventions: re-mobilizing a dorsal shutdown, modulating sympathetic arousal, widening access to the ventral vagal state
• avoid iatrogenic traps — deep relaxation with a dorsal patient, cognitive confrontation with a sympathetic one
• manage alliance ruptures in polyvagal terms and stage the end of therapy as a progressive exit from co-regulation

An integrative pedagogy. Polyvagal theory is presented here not as one more school of therapy but as a transversal framework that enriches CBT, schema therapy, mentalization-based treatment and psychodynamic work alike. Every module pairs theoretical rigour with clinical usability, and repeatedly bridges to the DSM and ICD nosographies.

Two detailed clinical vignettes. The final module puts the theory to work through two contrasting treatment trajectories — a complex-trauma patient with dorsal dominance and a panic-disorder patient with sympathetic dominance — showing precisely how the polyvagal reading drives the choice and ordering of interventions.

Who should enrol. Practising psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists who want to add a neurophysiological layer to their clinical reading. No previous exposure to polyvagal theory is assumed: the course starts from the foundations and builds steadily to the most advanced applications.

Asynchronous online format. Eight self-contained modules, taken at your own pace, each combining a video-presented lecture, illustrated slides and a closing assessment to consolidate the essentials.