Socio-Physiological Dysregulation Theory: An Evolutionary Framework for Understanding Collective Stress, Cognitive Fragmentation, and the Erosion of Truth Coherence

This conceptual paper introduces Socio-Physiological Dysregulation Theory (SPDT) — a new interdisciplinary framework integrating neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology to explain how collective nervous system dysregulation shapes cognition, culture, and societal function.

SPDT posits that widespread sympathetic dominance and disrupted social co-regulation have produced a collective stress physiology that fragments perception, trust, and truth coherence across populations. Drawing from polyvagal theory, neuroanthropology, and systems thinking, it argues that social disintegration and polarization can be understood as emergent phenomena of chronic dysregulation within the human network itself.

By reframing social pathology as a nervous-system-level process rather than purely ideological or moral failure, SPDT offers a unifying lens for research and intervention across education, governance, media, and health.

This initial publication establishes the theoretical foundation for future empirical exploration of collective regulation states and their role in shaping the stability of civilizations.