Foreword by Bessel A. van der Kolk

Introduction: Why Is There a Polyvagal Theory?

PART I: THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES

1. Neuroception: A Subconscious System for Detecting Threat and Safety

2. Orienting in a Defensive World: Mammalian Modifications of Our Evolutionary Heritage. A Polyvagal Theory

3. The Polyvagal Theory: New Insights Into Adaptive Reactions of the Autonomic Nervous System

PART II: BIOBEHAVIORAL REGULATION DURING EARLY DEVELOPMENT

4. Vagal Tone: A Physiological Marker of Stress Vulnerability

5. The Infant’s Sixth Sense: Awareness and Regulation of Bodily Processes

6. Physiological Regulation in High-Risk Infants: A Model for Assessment and Potential Intervention

7. Infant Regulation of the Vagal “Brake” Predicts Child Behavior Problems: A Psychobiological Model of Social Behavior

8. The Early Development of the Autonomic Nervous System Provides a Neural Platform for Social Behavior

PART III: SOCIAL COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS

9. Vagal Tone and the Physiological Regulation of Emotion

10. Emotion: An Evolutionary By-Product of the Neural Regulation of the Autonomic Nervous System

11. Love: An Emergent Property of the Mammalian Autonomic Nervous System

12. Social Engagement and Attachment: A Phylogenetic Perspective

13. The Polyvagal Hypothesis: Common Mechanisms Mediating, Autonomic Regulation, Vocalizations, and Listening

PART IV: THERAPEUTIC AND CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES

14. The Vagus: A Mediator of Behavioral and Physiological Features Associated With Autism

15. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Regulation

16. Abuse History Is Related to Autonomic Regulation

17. Music Therapy, Trauma, and the Polyvagal Theory

PART V: SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH

18. Reciprocal Influences Between Body and Brain in the Perception and Expression of Affect

19. Neurobiology and Evolution: Mechanisms, Mediators, and Adaptive Consequences of Caregiving