Model

The term 'model' enters the depth-psychology corpus along two distinct but related axes: the epistemological and the clinical. Bion provides the most sustained treatment, distinguishing the model sharply from abstract theoretical representations — the model is formed from concrete images combined according to perceived relationships in an original realization, whereas the deductive system is formed from alpha-elements in abstraction. For Bion, the model occupies a middle position between raw experience and formal theory, its value residing not in evidential weight but in communicability and capacity for comparison with facts. He invokes the myth-in-society as the group-level analogue of the individual's scientific model, a move that draws depth-psychological attention toward collective symbolic structures. Jaynes independently triangulates the concept, distinguishing 'model' from 'theory': the theory specifies the relationship between a model and what it represents, while the model itself is the more familiar construction through which understanding is achieved. Wampold imports the term into clinical discourse through his 'contextual model' of psychotherapy, in which common factors rather than specific techniques carry therapeutic efficacy. Lewis deploys it diagnostically — the 'disease model' and 'self-medication model' are rival explanatory frameworks for addiction. Across these usages, the recurring tension is between the model as heuristic fiction and the model as causal claim — a tension that Bion alone examines with full methodological rigour.

In the library 12 passages

THE MODEL MAY BE REGARDED as an abstraction from an emotional experience or as a concretization of an abstraction. In the group the myth has some claim to be regarded as filling the same role in the society as the model has in scientific work of the individual.

Bion defines the model as mediating between raw emotional experience and formal abstraction, and homologises it to myth at the collective level, establishing the model's central place in depth-psychological epistemology.

Bion, Wilfred Ruprecht, Learning from Experience, 1962thesis

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The distinction between the representation, formed from alpha-elements combined to produce an abstract theoretical deductive system, and a model formed from concrete images combined according to what were conceived to be the relationships between the components of the original realization, is important and must be preserved to avoid confusion.

Bion draws a methodologically critical boundary between the abstract theoretical system and the model built from concrete images, insisting the distinction must be preserved to prevent epistemological confusion in psychoanalytic thinking.

Bion, Wilfred Ruprecht, Learning from Experience, 1962thesis

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A theory is a relationship of the model to the things the model is supposed to represent. The terms theory and model, incidentally, are sometimes used interchangeably. But really they should not be.

Jaynes insists on a rigorous separation between model and theory, arguing that the model is the familiar constructive vehicle of understanding while theory specifies the representational relationship between model and reality.

Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, 1976thesis

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To understand the evidence supporting them as important therapeutic elements, the contextual model of psychotherapy is outlined. The evidence supports the conclusion that the common factors are important for producing the benefits of psychotherapy.

Wampold advances a 'contextual model' as the theoretical framework through which common factors — alliance, empathy, expectation — rather than specific techniques account for psychotherapeutic efficacy.

Wampold, Bruce E., How important are the common factors in psychotherapy? An update, 2015supporting

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disease model and, 1–2, 7, 25–26, 162–165, 168–169

Lewis situates the 'disease model' as the dominant but contested explanatory framework for addiction, against which he marshals developmental and neurological alternatives throughout his argument.

Lewis, Marc, The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease, 2015supporting

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self-medication model and, 177–178; definition, 3; developmental issues and, 3, 4; disease model enfolding, 5–6; as limited, 4

Lewis positions the 'self-medication model' as a rival to the disease model, noting its developmental strengths while acknowledging its limitations as a complete account of addiction.

Lewis, Marc, The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease, 2015supporting

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the cognitive labeling model, which proposes that craving experiences arise from cognitive interpretations of conditioned reactions; the outcome expectancy model, which proposes that craving arises from expectations that predict contextually dependent outcomes

Paulus surveys a proliferation of competing models of craving — cognitive labeling, outcome expectancy, dual-affect, dynamic regulatory, cognitive processing — underscoring that no single model commands consensus in addiction neuroscience.

Paulus, Martin P., The role of interoception and alliesthesia in addiction, 2009supporting

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we tested the hypothesized model whereby recovery time, general social support, recovery support, spirituality, life meaning, religious practices, and 12-step affiliation constitute a buffer that mediates the relationship between life stress and overall quality of life satisfaction.

Laudet employs structural equation modelling to test a mediational model in which psychosocial and spiritual variables buffer the effect of stress on quality of life during recovery from addiction.

Laudet, Alexandre B., The Role of Social Supports, Spirituality, Religiousness, Life Meaning and Affiliation with 12-Step Fellowships in Quality of Life Satisfaction Among Individuals in Recovery from Alcohol and Drug Problems, 2006supporting

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Adequacy of model fit was assessed with standardized coefficients obtained from the maximum likelihood method of estimation. The final determination of the 'best' model tends to be a subjective and theoretical judgment.

Benda acknowledges that statistical indices alone cannot determine the best-fitting structural model, foregrounding the irreducible role of theoretical judgment in model evaluation within addiction research.

Benda, Brent B., Spirituality and Religiousness and Alcohol/Other Drug Problems: Treatment and Recovery Perspectives, 2006supporting

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in no way do I mean to suggest them as ideals or models to be emulated. Each man can be seen as limited by

Stein briefly disclaims that his biographical vignettes of transformation are prescriptive models, using the term to signal the distinction between illustrative exemplar and normative template.

Stein, Murray, Transformation Emergence of the Self (Volume 7) (Carolyn, 1998aside

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We used an alternative type of reinforcement learning model (Rescorla–Wagner/Pearce–Hall Hybrid Model) to compare learning models' goodness of fit to the data.

Taylor invokes computational reinforcement learning models to assess mechanisms underlying mindfulness-based reductions in smoking, using 'model' in its technical computational sense rather than as a theoretical construct.

Taylor, Veronique A., App-Based Mindfulness Training Predicts Reductions in Smoking Behavior by Engaging Reinforcement Learning Mechanisms: A Preliminary Naturalistic Single-Arm Study, 2022aside

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Yalom's interactional model, 91–92, 91–155; background, 91–92; basic tasks of group leader, 92

Flores catalogues Yalom's interactional model as a foundational framework for group psychotherapy with addicted populations, with extensive modifications required for this clinical context.

Flores, Philip J, Group Psychotherapy with Addicted Populations An, 1997aside

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Related terms