So we're excited to have you all join us today.
You're in the right spot.
Today's webinar topic is integrating a Catholic Christian meta model of the person, and we have loads of information that we're excited to share with you all.
So stay tight.
Alright.
I have, our presenters and speakers today.
For the next slide, please.
Alrighty.
So here we have, Paul c Vitts, doctor Craig Stephen Titus, and doctor William j Nordland.
Just to give you a sense of who these professors and now editors of a newly published book are, I'm gonna go through their bios.
Doctor Paul C.
Vitz is a senior scholar and one of the founding professors for the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University.
He is also a professor of psychology emeritus for New York University.
His work is focused on the integration of Christian theology, especially Catholic anthropology with psychology and breaks from secularism and postmodern relativism.
He also addresses hatred and forgiveness, the importance of fathers, and the psychology of psychology of atheism.
He has published seven books and many articles, videos, and op eds.
He is currently editing a book on complementarity in men and women, which will be released in spring twenty twenty.
Doctor Craig Steve Steven Titus is a professor for the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University and the director for the department of Integrative Studies.
His research interest focus on virtue theory and the psychology of virtue, emotional and moral development, resilience and virtue, and the integration of psychological sciences, philosophy, and theology.
He is an editor of 10 books and co editor of the Pick Cares Reader, Renewing to Mystic More Theology, which was published by Catholic University of America in 2005.
He is also published by many other journal articles and book chapters.
Most recently, he published the book chapter entitled, quote, virtue and resilience, Aquinas' Christian approach to virtue applied to resilience, end quote, which was published in the book called Biblical and Theological Visions of Resilience, Pastoral and Clinical Insights.
Alright.
And our last bio of today is doctor William j Nordlund.
He is a professor and clinical supervisor for the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University.
He is one of the cofounding faculty members, and for eighteen years served as chair of the department and then as academic dean.
He received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and he is licensed as a clinical psychologist.
His areas of expertise include child, marriage, and family therapy.
He is widely recognized as an expert in the area of play therapy and is coauthor of the award winning textbook, Child Centered Play Therapy, a Practical Guide to Developing Therapeutic Relationships with Children.
Doctor Newling was a founding board member and served as a president of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association.
He also served on the board and as president of the National Level Association for Play Therapy.
So honored to have you all join us today.
I'm gonna kick it on over to you all.
Thank you all for attending.
And, again, if you have any questions, we'll be back to you as soon as possible.
Okay.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to our, webinar.
I wish I could see all of you.
I think there are around almost 400 people who are are with us today.
I'm doctor Vitz, and I'd like to start our discussion of our model.
We call it a meta model, and it's a Catholic Christian meta model of the person.
And what we mean by a meta model is that it's really a framework.
It's not a particular theory of the personality or of psychotherapy, but it's a framework that can include all of the basic, evidence based approaches.
And it includes an integration of the three great, wisdom traditions.
And the three traditions which it integrates are theology, philosophy, and psychology.
And along with psychology, most of what is called mental health practice.
And it's very important to understand that what we're doing here is this.
Existing approaches to, psychotherapy and counseling have usually been rather narrowly focused.
And even when they were somewhat broader than usual or involved combining different approaches, they almost always ignored the philosophical assumptions which were present in in in those psychologies, and above all, the implicit moral or theological meaning of their approaches.
And what we're doing by explicitly bringing in theology and philosophy along with psychology is to expand the notion of the person so that other frameworks, even if they don't agree with us, which is perfectly okay, will be challenged to introduce their theological or moral aspects, and to introduce their philosophical assumptions so that we can see from what more general framework they're operating.
But our general framework, which includes these three wisdom traditions, is very clear.
Now it's important to remember that it took a long time for this model to develop, and the three of us are editors.
We've all contributed to the model, but so have many other people.
It's taken roughly twenty years, even a little more for the development of this model.
This involves scholars from many disciplines.
We've used case histories.
We've had student and faculty research, impact us and help us to develop these ideas.
So as I said, this is a framework, a meta model for use with existing evidence based mental health theory and practice.
We're not a critic we're not a criticism of existing theories.
We're just an attempt to integrate them and to expand their understanding of the person.
And as long as there's evidence to support the clinical theory that's in question, we're fine with it.
I think we're ready for the next slide.
As I said, the three wisdom traditions are, philosophy, theology, philosophy, and psychology.
And psychology includes not just theoretical psychology or even psychotherapy.
It includes mental health practice in general.
Now this model, for short, we call it either the meta model or the CCMMP.
And it gives a specific definition of the person for each of those three, wisdom traditions.
So it gives the definition of the person from a theological perspective, from a philosophical perspective, and from a psychological perspective.
And that means that we have a hierarchical integration of our knowledge of the person or representation of them.
Okay, we can go on, I think, to those three.
Here we are.
As a psychological definition of the person, from our perspective of psychology, the human person is an embodied individual who is intelligent, uses language, and exercises a limited but significant amount of free will.
The person is fundamentally interpersonal that is created from relationships with others, is fundamentally interpersonal, experiences and expresses emotions, and has sensory perceptual cognitive cognitive capacities, which allow the person to be in contact with reality.
All of these characteristics are possible because of the unity of the body and human unique self consciousness, which are both expressed, which are all expressed in behavior and in our mental life.
Okay?
Next.
To continue the definition of the person from a psychological perspective.
Furthermore, and this is important because it's part of the meta model in a in a contributive and new way, the person is called by human nature to flourishing through virtuous behavior and transcendent growth, through interpersonal commitments to family, friends, and others, and through work, service, and meaningful leisure.
From their origins, both natural and transcendent, all persons have intrinsic goodness, dignity, and worth.
That's very important.
We want to underline that.
All persons have intrinsic goodness, dignity, and worth, no matter what you might think.
Even a serial killer has intrinsic goodness, dignity, and worth.
In the course of life, however, through suffering from many natural, personal, and social disorders and other conditions.
Persons hope for healing, they hope for meaning, and they hope for flourishing.
Okay, you know, on next, I think.
We've summarized the psychological definition of the person.
From a philosophical perspective, the human person is an individual substance of irrational, that is intellectual, volitional, free, relational, interpersonal, sensory, perceptual, cognitive, that's pre rational knowledge, emotional, and unified body soul nature.
The person is called to flourishing, moral responsibility, and virtue through his or her vowed or non vowed vocational state, as well as through life work, service to others, and meaningful leisure.
So there's our philosophical definition.
And now we go to the theological.
From a theological perspective, that is, from the perspective of Scripture, tradition of the church and the faith, and of the Catholic Magisterium, from a theological perspective, the human person is created in the image of God and made by and for divine and human love.
And although suffering, the effects of original personal and social sin, the person is invited to divine redemption in Christ Jesus, sanctification through the Holy Spirit, and beatitude with God the Father.
So there's our theological definition of the person.
And it's from the fact that we are created in the image of God, that we have intrinsic goodness and dignity.
And that's characteristic of all all persons because they are all created in the image of God.
I think then I've covered the basic, three divine, three wisdom traditions, the divine, the philosophical, and the psychological.
And it's what I want to summarize now is that these three wisdom traditions are integrated in a hierarchical form.
You can operate at only one of them if you wish, and or as a Catholic or Christian psychologist would, you can operate from all three of them at the same time.
But by integrating them, we have enlarged the notion of the person to include the philosophical aspects which all psychological approaches contain, but which have almost never been spelled out.
And we also have the theological aspect.
Now that is not found in normal psychology as theology, but it is found in in normal psychology as a kind of moral tradition or a moral goal.
For example, we argue that the person is redeemed and that redemption is Christian.
But there can be other kinds of redemption and in psychological sense, for example, the redemption has been proposed many times.
Jung proposed self realization as redemption.
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow proposed self actualization as a form of redemption.
And now some of the positive psychologists are proposing human flourishing through the virtues as a kind of redemption.
So what we're saying is that although we have the Christian understanding of redemption, the others have their own aspect of redemption as well.
And so we're at we're challenging them to enlarge their own representation of the person to include those aspects which we have included in ours.
I think I've covered about what is my, my introduction as far as I remember.
So we have, we move to now the faith based premises, and I'll just summarize them for you briefly.
The human person is created in the image of God, is fallen and weakened.
I expect those two theological positions would be fairly close to Judaism and probably in some ways even Islam and other religions as well.
And we're offered redemption and beatitude in a Christian way.
They may be offered in different ways or other religions or even in a secular sense, as I've said, through self realization or flourishing of of the virtues.
But those are our first three premises of the meta model.
Good.
Premises one, two, and three.
Created, fallen, redeemed.
Good, Paul.
Can you hear me?
I can hear you, Craig, and I think it's I pass the baton to you.
Well, thank you very much.
You've done a very fine job of helping us get to this point of looking at the premises.
And, what we're gonna do is take a very, if you will, short look at the premises that in that expand upon the definitions which are foundational for its understanding.
And we'll we'll talk quickly here about, the premises that are 11 in number.
And in order to give some of the more meat and potatoes of the understanding of what the how the person has conceptualized and thrives.
Then we'll move on afterwards to doctor Nordling, who will present a case, that will bring, psych the psychological implications of the meta model to the fore in a much stronger sense.
And so as doctor, Vitz said, the 11 premises that, oversee the areas identified within the definition, can be understood in in a num numerous ways.
But one way is to see first the faith based premises, which are three in number.
As Octavit said, the first theological premise is that, everyone, each human person is created in the image of God, made in love and for self giving love, called to friendship, communion, and flourishing.
We're created for purpose, the purpose of loving and serving God.
We're created to love our neighbors as ourselves, as stewards of creation, and to work for goodness and holiness, justice, and peace.
What are the implications of affirming that we are created in the image and likeness of god?
Well, from the meta model perspective, it this the implications are that it provides this this premise provides a faith based acknowledgment that even in the face of unhealthy values or poor choices and disordered behavior of your clients, each of them possesses an indelible dignity and goodness, and each of your clients is called to a transcendent flourishing.
This premise affirms that your clients are loved by God and that you are called to serve them, on their life journey.
The second, That gives you an over overview of that first, premise of the person being created in the image of God.
There's sub premises that that are, very expansive.
The the meta model of the person volume the Catholic Christian meta model of the person volume is 736 pages.
So here what we're doing is greatly condensing and focusing on the premise mentioning simply identifying your sub premises.
But the the second faith based premise is that the human race is is fallen.
And, because of that suffers the influence of moral and spiritual brokenness, and in particular, where we can do to a prideful alienation from God.
This brokenness is documented in the tendencies to greed, self serving biases, narcissism, wrath, injustice, and so on.
Although there are there is a continual struggle with evil, humans, nonetheless, are still basically good and retain basic dignity.
This is a clear and important Catholic principle.
They are still made in God's image and likeness even after the fall and retain basic tendencies to self preservation, goodness, truth, family, and beauty.
What are the implications of affirming that humans are influenced by the consequences of sin yet still fundamentally good?
Well, the benefit is that you have reason to hope.
In the midst of needing to face suffering and limitations, hope is possible due to the to the promise of redemption, the next premise.
But it is also due to the deep conviction that each human's in embodiment of and participation in goodness by a gift of god is more fundamental than any evil they may embody, express, or encounter.
So for the helping professional and the mental health professional, this premise is the basis for aiming not only at changing behavior, but also changing hearts to align them with the deepest longings, the human longings for goodness and relationship.
The third theological, premise is that the person is invited to redemption and beatitude.
There's a transcendent ground for hope and charity because God offers human beings redemption and promises eternal beatitude.
Humans are offered redemption, the overcoming of brokenness and sin through God's own mercy and love and grace.
The human inclination for more and for ultimate flourishing is answered by God's everyday and ultimate generosity, forgiveness, and communion.
What are the implications of this premise of redemption?
Well, the desire for ultimate wholeness, the desire for redemption can be found in all people.
The level of redemption offers responses to mental challenges and disorders through the effects of forgiveness, commitment, responsibility, and freedom, and so on.
Complete physical and mental wellness or lack of negative influences is not often possible.
However, inevitable suffering and sacrifice can take on new meaning when clients enter more fully into god's love, the therapist's care, the reawakening of vocational commitments to family and friend, and service to those in need, helping professionals and mental health practitioners can be beacons of hope, love, and faith.
Those are the three philosophic I'm sorry.
Those are the three theological premises.
Now there I'd like to present the eight philosophical premises.
They are eight in number and, they are from a different perspective, a different foundation of than the fills than the faith based premises.
Nonetheless, they also account for the wholeness of the person and its vocations, its aims, the person's goals, and the basic capacities that are connective, relational, dynamic, and directed towards flourishing in this world and the next.
So what are we what we're doing, we counted three theological premises.
There's eight more.
So I'm gonna pick up the count here.
And so the first philosophical premise is the fourth overall premise.
And this fourth premise, involves each person being, a whole, a whole that is called to a greater wholeness as, as such, as a personal unity.
Each person, both male and female, has a personal dignity, moral value, and spiritual goodness from a philosophical perspective too.
Males and females have equal worth, different gifts, and complimentary and complimentary missions.
We all are spiritual body soul unities.
What affects the body affects the soul, and, of course, what affects the soul affects the body in this perspective.
What are the implications of affirming that a person is a whole, seeking greater wholeness?
Well, this principle helps to identify the personal wholeness and identity of each client.
In particular, invites mental health professional to become aware of the strengths and struggles that come from partaking in, the diverse gifts, cultures, religious practices, spiritualities, and family histories that shape the lives of each of your clients.
The affirmation of being a whole person also adds a dimension of ethical norms, including professional norms.
The dignity of the person is, the basis to respect life from conception until death.
It is the basis to protect both the profession helping professionals and the client's conscience and sense of responsibility.
The fifth premise is that, the human person is fulfilled through vocation.
There are three interrelated types of calling or vocation, each contributing to everyday and and ultimate flourishing, each starting with some kind of good that attracts us, response that, is a call, is accepting of the goodness, seeking of the goodness, and the transformation that happens because of it, because of the response to the good call.
There are three interrelated types of of calling or vocation, each contributing to everyday or ultimate flourishing.
The first type of vocation is that each person is called to goodness.
Justice, truth, holiness, relationship, and beauty, each in a unique way.
The second type of vocation is that each person is called to honor their vocational relationships, be they single, married, family, consecrated, or ordained.
And the third aspect or level or type of vocation is that each person is called to self giving work, devoted service, and, meaningful leisure.
What are the implications of having three types of vocational, calling?
Well, vocational perspective requires a developmental, personal, and spiritual life narrative.
The life journey with its purposes, meanings, and missions starts with the gift of life and is called forward and grows in responses.
For example, it adds the the fuller notion of understanding trauma and its treatment, which becomes, contextualized when we understand that a trauma impacts a person's vocational relationships as when as a wife, to her husband, or as a mother to her children, as a colleague at work, and in one's life of prayer.
The connection of life events with one's vocations is of utmost importance in the meta model.
The sixth premise is that the human person is fulfilled in virtue, which is closely related to vocations.
A dynamic view of the person requires a dynamic view of the person's strengths and weaknesses, virtues, and vices, as well as moral character, spiritual maturity, and or lack or lack thereof.
The term virtue, as we know, is often misunderstood more than our particular virtues, which are the basis of relationships and flourishing, and more tangible often, for example, in terms of virtue of love, hope, patience, moderation, courage, forgiveness, and so on.
The virtues involve the functioning of human capacities, the varsity of relationships, and the attainment of goals?
What are the implications of, the the person flourishing in virtue for the helping professional?
Well, even without using the term virtue, the helping professional offers models and practices that promote virtues and strengths, hope, moderation, perseverance, practical wisdom, and so on.
The seventh premise is that humans are interpersonally relational.
From conception, human persons are fundamentally relational and do not exist in isolation or not for long.
Moreover, there is a relational and even spousal meaning to the body and to human emotional, rational, and volitional capacities.
The family is a basic unit of society, as important as the individual is, and we need to continue to reinforce that fact, each person finds its origin in the family, which has its roles.
For example, the parents having the role of being primary educators of their children, even when the family is blended or broken.
What what is the implication of acknowledging the importance of interpersonal relationality in helping professions?
Well, interpersonal relationships are resources for growth and healing as is the family.
Not only do parents normally serve as the basis for secure attachments and as a safe base in the midst of challenges, but other people, including helping professionals, can serve as a safe haven and can facilitate corrective emotional experiences.
Systemic and relational therapies offer complimentary insights on the importance of family, friends, and colleagues.
And transcendent perspectives recognize the influence and inter that an intentional relationship with God in prayer, love, and service can bring.
The eighth premise is that the human person is sensory, perceptual, cognitive.
Here we're entering into four, premises that are anthropological, a basic structure for understanding the knowing and loving that a person is capable of.
In in this eighth premise, our bodies are recognized as fully personal and our persons as fully embodied.
This affirmation holds in a nonexclusive way for the capacities of sensation and perception that enable persons to take interest in and interact with other people and the world.
These capacities are the basis for human re receptivity, and in turn, they comprise the first instincts and inclinations.
And for example, they include pre rational cognitions of what is friendly or hostile and what is attractive or repulsive.
What are the implications of recognizing the person being sensory as being sensory, perceptual, and cognitive?
Well, this person is normally in contact with the world and other persons with their senses and perceptions.
When there are difficulties or obstructions in reading the world for biochemical and neurological reasons, for example, individuals may suffer unintentional isolation and disorientation and the need for the intervention of a helping professional and so on.
The ninth premise is that the person is emotional.
Human persons, are emotional both in common and unique ways because of the person's spiritual body, soul unity.
Emotional diversity is rooted in factors such as culture, personal experience, masculinity, and femininity.
What are the implications of affirming that the person is emotional?
Well, the helping professional will learn a great deal by recognizing how clients experience and moderate their effects in personal and unique ways.
Emotions influence one's intellectual, moral, and spiritual interactions and interpersonal relationships.
For example, feeling anxious can affect the way that the client interacts with his spouse and children.
Conversely, emotions are influenced by one's reason and will as well as one's interpersonal relationships and spiritual life.
For example, a client's cognitive capacities to face dangers, motivations, to focus on goals, and secure interpersonal attachments can serve in calming anxiety raised in a threatening situation.
A tenth premise, the person, human person is rational.
Humans are pre rational, and they have pre rational and rational cognitions to know and understand, people, to make sense of the world around us, and to appreciate wisdom and beauty.
We're not enclosing ourselves with our thoughts.
Rather, we think about other people in the world around us.
We plan plans and we achieve goals.
We're rational.
What are the implications of appreciating the rationality of the human person?
Reason can help people to understand life as it really is, which is a goal of good mental health.
On the contrary, distorted cognitions about life may be a sign or result of poor mental health.
The cognitive and neo the cognitive and neurosciences have become very powerful tools for understanding the person, but they need to be integrated into the larger frame of the person, family, community in search for counsel, understanding, and wisdom as is, the framework offered by this, the meta model.
Lastly, the eleventh premise, is that humans are volitional and free.
To a large degree, we are capable of free and responsible action in the world.
Because we have freedom to choose, we can be considered moral moral agents.
What are the implications of an integrated vision of volition and freedom?
Well, growth and healing inevitably requires the choice to move freely towards proper goals of life that is towards true flourishing.
Because we are free and have rational capacity, we can contribute to our own healing and to flourishing.
The capacity for freely choosing goals gives hope for change, change that can correct the past, engage the present, and approach the future.
There you have a very quick overview of the 11 premises of the meta model with certain insights into its application.
Now doctor Nordling will engage us in analysis of the benefits of the meta model for the field of psychology and mental health practice with an, illustrated case vignette on the side.
Doctor Nordling.
Good.
Thank you, Doctor Titus.
And so, now we're at the time where we're gonna kinda look at, okay, what difference does the meta model make for the field of psychology and for mental health practice?
And so, if you can put the slide on on the four benefits.
Okay.
So there are there are four major benefits that the meta model offers, the field of psychology.
First of all, as as it's been talked about, it provides an enriched vision of the person, marriage, family, and society.
And specifically, a vision of the person that, augments the often isolated, versions of the person that exist within different models.
For example, it's not that the cognitive sciences are bad.
They give us a great deal of information about, the person as rational.
Interpersonal theory gives us a lot of information about the relational aspects, of the person.
And, the dynamic perspectives gives us a a real good understanding of the interior life of the person.
And so what the meta model does is it says we we need to be multiperspectival.
We need to adopt multiple theoretical positions in order to truly get a good idea of what the person is, And ultimately, this is gonna contribute to the second benefit, which it promotes an enriched approach to diagnosis, to case formulation, and ultimately, what we do.
For example, if we have a case of a depressed person, the depressed the depression itself tells us a a lot about the emotional aspect of the client.
However, when we find out that this client also has marital distress, distress, which is at the vocational level, in the sense that in their most deeply held committed relationships, there's distress, there's dysfunction, then we know that if we were to simply remove the depression, we would not have a flourishing person.
We still need to address the vocational level.
And so the CCMMP framework, in some ways, is a safeguard for the clinician to make sure that, in some ways, we go down the checklist, and we make sure that we have all of the information that gives us the big picture and that we're not too quickly, reducing our vision either because of our own individual preferred models or because of our specializations, or because of a diagnosis.
One of the things the metamodel is clear about, is that, a person is not a diagnosis.
Diagnoses, or is not a a person is not a mental disorder.
They may, have different types of problems, and these problems impact the whole person.
And so the second thing about the CCMNP framework is that it it enriches our approach to diagnosis.
So we're no longer just interested in, say, a DSM five diagnosis, but we're also trying to look at the strengths and the challenges of the client.
You know, do they have strengths in the interpersonal level?
Do, how is their if they're married, how is their marriage?
How are the parents contributing, and being able to be good co parents, how what is the value system?
What what values does this person hold and do they find themselves living within that value system?
Do they have meaningful work, that contributes to a sense of meaning for them in their life?
So we go way beyond just the standard, psychological disorders.
Number three, the meta model facilitates clients' care that is personalized.
Often when we look at broad kinds of generalizations like depression, we have evidence based practice that addresses depression.
And that's good.
There's we we don't want to we wanna have things that work for, say, depression.
However, when we look at the meta model, we personalize our understanding.
We we learn about this the important vocational callings.
We learn about the marriage.
We learn about their, their goals in life.
We learn about their values.
And we help to make sure that in our treatment, we're helping them to accomplish and be fulfilled in those kinds of, goals and be fulfilled and to flourish.
Finally, the meta model allows us to understand their own vocational calling.
In other words, the meta model is not simply, something we apply to our clients.
It's the way that we help on this on this earth.
And so it goes beyond being simply a profession, to being a vocational calling.
And with that understanding of myself, as a Christian, that means I also need to be able to bring that Christian identity and the Christian worldview in into the way that I understand people.
And but it's got to be, of course, balanced with also respecting and not only balanced, but respectful of and, absolutely in line with being able to respect the client's world view, to be aware of their dignity, to always, have clients being able to act in conscience, and having clients, of course, the right to determine therapeutic goals.
And so there's a there's a balance.
We could have a whole, webinar on how you accomplish that balance.
One way of describing it is that the meta model says there are two complete persons involved in a therapeutic intervention.
More, of course, if you have a couple.
But two fully human beings interacting with one of them helping, the other person to fully flourish.
Next slide.
And so, much of much of what we've talked about so far, can seem a little bit abstract.
And so what I wanna do is is to talk a little bit about a case.
Now we're not gonna be able to look at a case in-depth.
To look at a case from the Meta Model perspective probably would talk would take probably about an hour to do a a really nice job, and I've only have about five more minutes left.
So, I wanna let you know that ahead of time, but I do wanna begin to look at a case as a way of kind of concretely illustrating, why the meta model, adds some value.
And so we're gonna look at the meta model, and the first thing to recognize, the meta model framework places demands on a clinician to use multiple filters or levels of analysis.
Many of these levels of analysis are utilized in traditional approaches to clinical work.
In other words, where the the meta model depends on the explanatory model that exists within the field to help it.
It depends on behaviorism to understand, what shapes behavior.
It learn it depends on learning theory to understand how we learn.
It depends on interpersonal theory to understand how interpersonal types of things, operate.
And so, but we also, also the meta model will introduce some novel things itself.
So let's look at a case.
So next slide.
Let's look at the case of Enrique Gonzalez.
He's a six year old boy.
His parents have been married for ten years.
His mother, Rose, is from Nicaragua.
His father, Fernando, is from Mexico.
The family recently relocated from Los Angeles to Baltimore, where Enrique's been enrolled in a neighborhood public school.
Enrique's an only child.
Enrique's mom, Rose, is seeking help because her son's having problems adjusting to the new school.
He frequently refuses to go to school, and when he does, he quickly ends up in the nurse's office with complaints complaints of feeling sick, which result in him being sent home.
Next slide.
And so, again, if we we had, the time to thoroughly analyze this case, we could do this through, a standard DSM five diagnostic analysis, learning theory, attachment theory, interpersonal theory, positive psychology.
We might very well use trauma theory if we found out, for example, that one of the parents has experienced trauma and that that's impacting, the their ability to, raise their child and certainly family systems theory.
Next slide.
In addition to these, kind of more traditional theories, however, the meta model would also have a heavy focus on the importance of committed relationships, the importance of meaningful work and leisure, spirituality and transcendence, a focus on positive strengths, the recognizing of one's inherent dignity, and how the person's fulfilled to the development of virtue.
And so it's a very rich theory.
There are a lot of filters or a lot of perspectives to look at a case.
We're we'll look at it just a a a few real quickly, and then we'll be stopping for questions.
Next slide.
So, you know, the basic understanding that we would need to look at is what is the what is the diagnosis from a DSM five perspective?
Too much reliance on a symptom based understanding of the case might result in us as diagnosing Enrique as having an anxiety disorder, specifically separation anxiety and ultimately, accompanied by school refusal.
If we stayed at that level, we might limit ourselves to either a pharmacological or medication approach, such as to relieve anxiety through medication, or perhaps, focus exclusively on his school refusal behavior, and, focus on a behavioral approach to increase school attendance.
Both of these may be very well appropriate, but they still represent a two reductionistic set of filters, because if we look at Enrique through other dimensions of the meta model, we we learn information that's very important towards treatment.
Next slide.
So for example, if we look at the dyadic or interpersonal level, we might see some very valuable information added.
For example, it would be very helpful to know that Enrique has an anxious attachment style, and that this is mirrored by his mother's attachment stall.
In other words, we find that Enrique's anxiety is not just his anxiety, and that it it at one level, it may be very much learned, and at another level, to truly impact, his anxiety, we may very well have to assist the mother, of Enrique in various ways.
In addition, we may discover that the relationship between Enrique and his father is distant, and that the relation that some relational work between the two might produce a warmer, relationship, a supportive relationship, allow Enrique to benefit from the modeling of his father, that might help Enrique build a more secure attachment and self confidence.
Next slide.
And then if we were to look at the vocational level level of marriage and family, this may allow us to understand some valuable things about the marriage between mister and missus Gonzales.
For example, we might find that although they love each other, which is a real strength, and they're committed to their marriage, real strength, they have significant communication problems.
They have very different parenting styles.
And so, they're, working at odds with with each other at times at how to help Henry, deal with this anxiety, and in some ways, how to help, Henry feel more secure, as as in terms of his attachment.
Next slide.
And a level that perhaps is often not as often included in standard traditional, analyses of cases, and this is the analysis of spirituality and transcendence.
This may help us understand that in the past, the spirituality in connection with their faith tradition was a very important resource for Enrique, his family, and its very identity.
If we inquired, we may find out that currently the family has moved across, The United States, is feeling extraordinarily isolated, from their faith community.
That in the past, this faith community had provided a lot of support.
It had provided lots of companionship and interaction for, say, missus Gonzales.
It provided a place for the family to kinda get out of, their own kinda isolated, world and to to interact interpersonally and in communally and in friendships.
The the parents may have been able to, get all kinds of support from other parents and talk with other parents about how, you know, they're handling different parenting things.
And even the the church setting itself may, have have resources around parenting.
And so the failure to see how important this transcendent dimension is for the family, not only at the level of social support, but in their own, taking solace and adjusting to their the challenges of their move, for, the kind of prayer life, perhaps of of praying together as a family, keeping them, interacting with each other.
And these things are sometimes overlooked, the importance of them in their flourishing, but but also as resources.
Final slide.
Okay.
Now about this time, you know, it would be unusual, for if we had a a in person web, web webinar where everyone could interact for, a number of clinicians to say, well, wait a minute.
I I think there are many clinicians that do look at all of these things.
And at which point, I would say, great, to the degree that as clinicians, we are able to look at the dimensions of the meta model and apply them, and and we don't overlook important aspects of the person, then and they're flourishing, then that's great.
The the thing that I would observe is that sometimes, you know, because of many pressures, we aren't so good at doing that.
And also, it often takes a lot of maturity as a clinician.
In other words, certainly, after thirty, forty years of practicing or twenty, we learn new filters, new models.
We use those models, and we look at the client through a richer, lens.
However, one of the values of the meta model is that it's a safeguard that we do this in a consistent way.
And in addition to that, that it allows for us to train graduate students, to be able to have this rich vision early in their careers, even during their their clients, they're seen as part of their graduate training.
In other words, graduate training can be a little bit haphazard in many, graduate programs in the sense that very few, models of the of, psychotherapy are taught, very few models of dimensions of the person are focused on.
The meta model allows us to to have a kind of comprehensive framework, to be able to operate, with, with clients, to be able to provide a fuller set of therapeutic interventions, and it allows us to, be able to do that early in our careers.
And so that's a a big advantage of having a framework that incorporates, multiple models.
And so now we're, done with the presentation part of our, webinar, and we have, as presenters, we have reviewed, clients the, questions that were sent in, and we'll try to address some of those questions.
I think, doctor Bitch, you had, indicated that, you wanted to address a question that you had, seen.
Well, one of the questions that I thought was interesting was, how would you summarize the basic most important takeaway from the whole webinar?
In other words, not the details, but what's the the basic takeaway.
What I would say is this, is that this Catholic metamodel of the person is a large framework for conceptualizing the person that enlarges our understanding of the person when we're dealing with people in psychology or in counseling.
And at the same time, it's bringing in new traditions, it's bringing in theology and philosophy explicitly and challenging those who would want a different approach to develop their own philosophy and tell us what it is and their own moral framework or religious position.
And in doing that we are expanding, I think, the understanding of the person.
And, in this sense that's why in case you're interested, the book got an award for the expansion of reason that is for enlarging, the way we understand the term reason to include not just reductionistic or local understandings of things, in this case, reductionist or local understandings of the person.
We're expanding, our understanding of the person and making it rational and therefore, understandable on a worldwide basis.
So that would be my, if you can say it, my takeaway.
Not exactly a sound bite, but at least a sound a sound sandwich.