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