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PREFACE 7
We know a lot about the world, and about ourselves. The scientific method has slowly but surely dissected our physical, biological, psychological, and social nature. The reductionist agenda has led to the accumulation of vast amounts of ever-detailed discoveries over the last centuries reported in hundreds of thousands of scientific articles. We are made of atoms following physical laws in a 13.7 billion-year-old expanding universe. We have evolved from simple self-replicating molecules by natural selection. A complex network of billions of neurones generates our behaviour and experience, and makes us exquisite observers of nature and of our nature. And, we are cultural beings, standing on the shoulders of our ancestors’ knowledge and forming societies which dominate all other life forms.
Yet, despite all this detailed knowledge, no effective overarching framework to classify, describe, and manage the complexity of human nature exists. Current debates are unnecessarily implicit, unstructured, and incomplete. Not that any human-focused discipline says anything wrong. Each has created a set of fitting and useful descriptions of the specific phenomena they study and treat, but we also need a framework, or a set of tools, that allows us to describe all human processes within a single model. Today, the biopsychosocial “model” tries to fill this gap. Its holistic maxim states: you must consider all three aspects whenever you study humans and their disorders. However, this conceptual framework barely passes as a fundamental and unifying model of humans, but is rather the explicit acknowledgement of the existence of separate biological, psychological, and social processes.
The helping professions should be especially concerned as they often work together in multi-disciplinary teams or are faced with multi-dimensional disorders. A global framework should holistically study human processes and treat disorders. Students of the human disciplines must work too hard to make sense of the diversity of drivers of human processes in their own field, in which they want to become an expert, and in all other fields, to which they want to be an observer. Patients are even more struggling to build up a simple global picture on what causes and modulates their symptoms and associated handicap. Of course, any area of society would practically benefit from a more effective holistic framework. Not to speak of the intellectual satisfaction to better understand ourselves and our place within the world.
In this book, we propose a conceptual framework on how to construct effective holistic models of the human system. Be patient in the introductory chapters. We do not present the overarching framework ad-hoc, but search for hints to its structure from historical debates, weaknesses of current frameworks, known organising principles of human nature, and requirements imposed on an overarching framework. We then use our framework to derive the simplest non-trivial model of the human system, and apply this four-domain model to all types of human processes such as behaviour, experience, and internal body processes. While we focus on clinical case studies, disorders and psychotherapy, we also show the universal application of the model to all human activity and even extend to other life forms. We then move from the single human perspective to interpersonal relationships and social networks, which we describe with multi-person four-domain models derived from our framework. The models naturally describe the move from natural sciences to social sciences, and provide a clearer perspective on cultural evolution and all other activities of societies including media, politics and economics. We conclude the book with a broader vision on how our framework fits into the scientific world view using an information paradigm.
The book should be especially useful for students of the human disciplines to master the complexity of human nature. Patients can learn how their disorders affect them at different levels. And, seasoned academics and clinicians might see the advantages of re-phrasing what they already know within one single framework. We hope you will find our ideas interesting, and spread them eagerly. Please share your comments with us. Enjoy the book!
CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE HUMAN KALEIDOSCOPE 11
STUDYING THE IMAGE OF THE HUMAN KALEIDOSCOPE
INSPIRATION FROM THE MECHANICAL KALEIDOSCOPE
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES
BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES
PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES
OBSTACLES TO A GLOBAL FRAMEWORK
BENEFITS OF A SIMPLE GLOBAL FRAMEWORK
CHAPTER TWO: SEARCHING FOR A GLOBAL FRAMEWORK 27
INTUITIVE FRAMEWORKS AIDED BY THE GODS OF THE GAPS
SIMPLISTIC FRAMEWORKS WITH MINIMAL USE OF THE GODS OF THE GAPS
THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD OF INCREASINGLY SPECIALISED FIELDS
SMOOTHING THE BODY-MIND DICHOTOMY
THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING AND BIOLOGICAL MEMORY REVOLUTION
ENGEL’S BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL MODEL: THE FIRST EXPLICIT ATTEMPT TO AN OVERARCHING FRAMEWORK
FRAMEWORKS INSPIRED BY BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL AND EVOLUTIONARY IDEAS
CHAPTER THREE: HOW AN OVERARCHING FRAMEWORK SHOULD LOOK LIKE 38
WEAKNESSES OF THE BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL AND RELATED APPROACHES
PROPERTIES OF AN OVERARCHING FRAMEWORK
REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD FRAMEWORK
PART II: THE FOUR-DOMAIN MODEL 44
CHAPTER FOUR: DERIVATION OF THE FOUR-DOMAIN MODEL 44
ONE-DOMAIN MODEL: EVERYTHING IS PHYSICS
TWO-DOMAIN APPROACH: HUMANS IN AN ENVIRONMENT
THREE-DOMAIN APPROACH: INFORMATION GATHERING AND UTILISING SYSTEM
FOUR-DOMAIN APPROACH: DISTINGUISHING ON TRANSPORTABILITY OF HUMAN MEMORY
CHAPTER FIVE: UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR-DOMAIN MODEL 54
COMMUNICABLE MEMORY: THE REPLICATOR OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION?
OUR CULTURAL CONTENT AS A LIST OF MEMES
CONFINED MEMORIES ARE A.M.E.S
THOUSANDS OF ELEMENTS IN EACH OF THE FOUR DOMAINS
OPERATIONALISING THE FOUR-DOMAIN MODEL
EXAMPLES
PART III: UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR AND EXPERIENCE: A STATE VIEW 66
CHAPTER SIX: WHAT DRIVES ORDINARY BEHAVIOUR? 66
A GIRL EATS ICE CREAM ON A RIVER BOAT
A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SITTING HIS FINAL EXAM
A TEENAGE GIRL READS A BOOK
A MAN EATS CHOCOLATE AT NIGHT DESPITE BEING ON A DIET
THE EXECUTIONER STARTS THE FIRE OF THE STAKE WITH A SHACKING HAND
A RUSSIAN SPY BETRAYS ATOMIC WEAPON SECRETS
THE CLOWN JUGGLES IN THE CIRCUS
A VIOLENT TEENAGER
A MAN KILLS HIS WIFE AND TWO DAUGHTERS
A SORROWING WIDOW
CHAPTER SEVEN: WHAT DRIVES A DISORDER? 76
ENGEL’S MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION PATIENT
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ENGEL’S APPROACH AND THE FOUR-DOMAIN MODEL
STUTTERING
LIVING WITH ADDICTION
STRESS-RELATED DISORDER IN RESPONSE TO BULLYING
CANCER
CHAPTER EIGHT: AN ALTERNATIVE DISORDER FRAMEWORK 85
CLASSIFICATION OF DISORDERS
LACK OF A GENERIC DISORDER FRAMEWORK
THE BALANCE BETWEEN SHARED AND UNIQUE ELEMENTS
FROM INDIVIDUALS’ STATES TO A GENERIC DISORDER-SPECIFIC MODEL
EVOLUTION OF A DISORDER OVER TIME
PART IV: INTERVENING IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR & EXPERIENCE: A STATE VIEW 91
CHAPTER NINE: CHOOSING THE APPROPRIATE STATE FOR A DESIRED PROCESS 91
TOWN COUNCIL TRYING TO FIGHT GRAFFITI
COACHING A YOUNG SPORTS TALENT
INVESTMENT BANKS MOULDING YOUNG GRADUATES
MOVING A CENTRALISED ECONOMY TOWARDS A MARKET ECONOMY
SELF-MANAGEMENT AND SELF-REALISATION
TREATING STRESS: MULTI-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH
TREATING CLAUSTROPHOBIA: ONE-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH
CHAPTER TEN: HOW INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES CHANGE THE STATE 98
GRADUAL DESENSITISATION
SOCRATIC DIALOGUE
TIME OUT
FREE ASSOCIATION
ACTIVE LISTENING
ENACTMENT OR ROLE PLAY
SUPPORT GROUP
MEDITATION AND RELAXATION
HYPNOSIS
PSYCHOTHERAPY INTERVENTIONS AS PROCESSES CHANGING THE INFORMATIONAL STATE
CHAPTER ELEVEN: GENERIC PSYCHOTHERAPY FRAMEWORK 107
HOW PSYCHOTHERAPY SCHOOLS INTERVENE TO MOVE THE SAME ELEPHANT
ANALYTIC THERAPY
BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY
COGNITIVE THERAPY
SYSTEMIC THERAPY
GESTALT THERAPY
CHAPTER TWELVE: GENERIC TARGET-ORIENTED INTERVENTION FRAMEWORK 112
DIAGNOSIS
TARGET
PRIORITISING INTERVENTION
ANALYSING THE IDENTIFIED STATES FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
INTERVENTION
CONCLUSION
PART V: MULTI-PERSON MODELS 119
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: TWO-PERSON MODEL 119
CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERACTIONS
EXAMPLES OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERACTIONS
THERAPEUTIC PROCESS AND THE THERAPIST-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
TREATING AN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: CULTURE 126
THE CULTURE WITHIN US
CULTURAL EVOLUTION OR THE SPREADING OF MEMES
THE DYNAMICS BEHIND MEMES
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MULTI-PERSON MODEL FOR SOCIAL GROUPS 132
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND AGENT-BASED MODELLING
GROUP BEHAVIOURS
EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL GROUP PHENOMENA
TREATING SOCIAL GROUPS
PART VI: ENDING ON A WIDER PERSPECTIVE 138
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: REVIEWING THE FRAMEWORK 138
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: TAKING A WIDER PERSPECTIVE 149
THE TOWER OF INFORMATION
LIFE, ANIMALS, CHILD DEVELOPMENT, TWINS
HUMAN DISCIPLINES FROM AN INFORMATION PERSPECTIVE
SHIFTING TO A MEME PERSPECTIVE
A FRESH LOOK AT INTERESTING TOPICS
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: SPREADING THE MEME 160
INFORMATION-DRIVEN FRAMEWORK WILL PREVAIL
MAKING PEOPLE USE THE FRAMEWORK
REFERENCES 163
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