Polyvagal Theory, developed by Stephen Porges, provides a neuroscience framework that explains many aspects of moral injury in terms of the nervous system's safety-detection mechanisms.
The Three States of Polyvagal Theory and Moral Injury
Ventral vagal (safe and social): Optimal state for connection, learning, and moral injury management
Sympathetic mobilization (fight or flight): Anxiety-type moral injury responses
Dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze/collapse): Depression and dissociation-type moral injury
Neuroception and Moral Injury
Neuroception — the body's unconscious safety-detection — can be dysregulated in moral injury, causing false alarms (sensing danger when safe) that drive moral injury responses.
Polyvagal-Informed Moral Injury Treatment
Therapy that acknowledges the body's state — helping clients move into ventral vagal 'safe and social' — transforms moral injury management.
Safe relationships, co-regulation, and body-based practices are particularly emphasized.