Is Polyvagal Theory Untenable Episode 1 of 3
About this episode
The episode discusses the critique of polyvagal theory by 39 scientists and its implications for clinicians.
SHOW NOTES | EPISODE EP 7 The Polyvagal Theory Debate, Part 1 of 3 What Actually Happened — The Critique, the Response, and What "Untenable" Actually Means Host: Kathy Couch, LCSW | March 2026 EPISODE SUMMARY If you've been in any trauma-informed clinical space in the last ten years, you've almost certainly built some part of your practice on polyvagal theory. And then maybe recently you heard that 39 scientists published a paper calling it scientifically untenable — and you thought, wait, what? That was my reaction too. And I think for a lot of clinicians, it landed somewhere between confusing and destabilizing. Do I need to throw out the whole framework? The answer is no. But the conversation is worth having — carefully, honestly, and without either defending the theory or reflexively dismissing it because the headline was alarming. That's what this three-episode series is for. In Part 1, we break down what actually happened, what each side argued, and what the word "untenable" actually means when scientists use it. IN THIS EPISODE [00:00] Podcast intro & Kathy on the Couch Membership Community overview [02:00] How the 39-scientist critique landed for clinicians — and why…
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