Show Notes
Check out the full series on Youtube - Roots of Care Series
Overview:
We continue our Roots of Care series by exploring how symptoms serve as a form of communication, delving into the fundamentals of somatic experiencing and the practical application of polyvagal theory in clinical care. Together, we break down the nervous system’s adaptive states—including the social engagement system, sympathetic drive, and dorsal vagal shutdown—highlighting how trauma can shape the body’s responses. We reflect on our own skepticism about new models and discuss the value of separating emotion from physiology, expanding our capacity for self-awareness and connection with patients.
Three Takeaways: 1. The Value of Practice-Based Evidence
The conversation highlights a tension in medicine between evidence-based practice versus practice-based evidence. While polyvagal theory may not be universally accepted or supported by large clinical trials, it offers a functional framework that many find therapeutically valuable in practice, encouraging open-mindedness about models that provide clinical utility
2. Importance of Allowing Sensations to Evolve
Instead of forcing a narrative or assigning immediate meaning to symptoms, the episode advocates for attending to and staying with bodily sensations as they change. Doing so can lead to natural resolution or dissipation of discomfort, as witnessed in the live demonstration with a feeling of chest pressure and calf tension that dissipates through mindful attention
3. Clinician as "Meaning Maker" - and Its Limits
There’s reflection on how frequently clinicians assign meaning to patients’ symptoms, inadvertently establishing themselves as sole "meaning makers." This can lead to disconnection or frustration, particularly when the meaning is unclear or unsatisfactory to both clinician and patient (e.g., labeling symptoms as "just IBS"). The episode encourages clinicians to share meaning-making with patients, exploring the bodily story together
Guests
Sophia Malik, MD, MPH — Family physician and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (https://drsophiamalik.substack.com)
Rachel Weiner, MD, MPH — Family physician
Resources mentioned
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™)
Compassionate Inquiry® (CI)
adrienne maree brown
Books
Vine Deloria Jr., The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Power of the Medicine Man
Efu Nyaki, Healing Trauma through Family Constellations and Somatic Experiencing: Ancestral Wisdom from the Snail Clan of Tanzania
Alondra Nelson, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination
Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited
Dean Spade, Love in a Fcked-Up World*
Peter Ralston, The Principles of Effortless Power
About Roots of Care A series on whole-person, trauma-informed, and community-centered primary care, produced as part of the Healthcare for Humans podcast.
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More from Healthcare for Humans
Check out the full series on Youtube - Roots of Care Series
Check out the full series on Youtube - Roots of Care Series
Check out the full series on Youtube - Roots of Care Series
Correction: In this episode I refer to INSPIRE's roadmap as created by Community Catalyst. In fact, Community Catalyst is one of five organizations in the INSPIRE coalition, which—along with six parents with lived experience—collectively authored the report. You can see the full list of contributors.For reference, INSPIRE's organization and lived experience parents are all listed here: A roadmap for effective community engagement in healthcare: Final report from INSPIRE Phase 1 - Camden Coalition