Stephen W. Porges

Stephen W. Porges

Stephen W. Porges, PhD, is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders.  
 
The theory has reshaped how trauma therapy is understood worldwide. His research into the autonomic nervous system has given clinicians a new lens to view the long-lasting effects of trauma.