Polyvagal theory & nervous system safety for dizziness & pain recovery: interview w/ Tanner Murtagh

I am so pleased to welcome Tanner Murtagh, MSW, RSW to my channel to give us a crash course on polyvagal theory and nervous system safety. Tanner is the director of Pain Psychotherapy Canada and specializes in helping people recover from chronic physical symptoms like pain, dizziness, fatigue, digestive issues and more. In this interview, we dive into why "messages of safety" are such a common refrain in healing from chronic neural circuit disorders. Even more importantly, we discuss why so many of you don't believe yourselves when you try to tell yourself you're safe. Tanner gives us a breakdown of how to start noticing and shifting your nervous system states, an essential component of healing from chronic dizziness.

Learn more about Tanner and find out more information on polyvagal theory, calming your nervous system and more tools for chronic pain, dizziness and other symptoms on his YouTube channel, ‪@painpsychotherapy‬

You can also visit Tanner's practice's website: https://www.painpsychotherapy.ca

Learn more about me and my work on my website at https://thesteadycoach.com
Take my course, Healing Chronic Dizziness, entirely for free at https://thesteadycoach.com/free-course

00:00:00 Intro and about Tanner
00:03:49 The types of symptoms & diagnoses Tanner sees in his work
00:07:07 The more symptoms you have, the more likely it is that it's a neural circuit issue
00:09:17 Why fear of the symptoms and avoidance doesn't fully explain chronic symptoms
00:11:01 Story follows nervous system state
00:15:00 Why you don't believe yourself when you say "I'm safe"
00:19:40 A nervous system that is "dysregulated" means a nervous system that isn't flexible!
00:22:50 We are NOT meant to always be calm
00:24:00 How an inflexible nervous system causes physical symptoms
00:28:00 Polyvagal theory and neuroception
00:31:43 The three subsystems in your autonomic (automatic) nervous system
00:34:45 How our lifestyles and strategies like perfectionism affect our nervous systems
00:40:52 People are not always aware of their nervous systems states
00:48:17 How to start - build awareness of your nervous system states
00:52:48 Building resources to shift from state to state
00:54:37 Ventral-vagal anchors
01:01:13 What if you never feel safe?
01:06:27 Why people sometimes feel more anxiety and activation when recovering
01:10:40 What a daily routine looks like and what to expect with symptoms
01:15:15 How this ties in with emotional awareness and expression
01:19:24 Message of hope for people with dizziness using these methods

DISCLAIMER: Please note that Yonit Arthur, The Steady Coach and any of our other guests are not acting as an audiologist nor offering audiology or medical services services or advice on any public videos or on any other content. This channel provides wellness education and personal opinion only, and are not meant to be a substitute for medical or mental health instruction or intervention. Use any tools discussed at your own risk.