Harmony, Basic Goods, and the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model: A Philosophical Anthropology That Can Lead to Better Healthcare

A deficient philosophical anthropology is likely the root of many of society's ills and poor health outcomes. We neither understand our complexity nor clearly see the higher goods that we should aim for. Additionally, Christians, and specifically Christian physicians, need an anthropology that coheres with theology. Harmony of the biopsychosocial-spiritual dimensions oriented towards the basic goods is a philosophical anthropology that leads to better health outcomes while coherent with Christian theology. Harmony, or the right relationship among the dimensions, is synergistic and best achieves our goals. These higher goals should be the basic goods (life, health, work, play, marriage, friendship, knowledge, aesthetic experience, personal integrity, and harmony with the Divine) which can be normative and rightly order our actions. Balance among all dimensions is a critical element of harmony; however, the dominance of the psychological leads to imbalance resulting in a myriad of problems. Self-transcendence of the psychological restores balance. The spiritual dimension is best defined as the "transcendent" comprising the good (the virtues), the true (transcendent truths of nature, humanity, and God), the beautiful, and a relationship with God. This best distinguishes it from the other dimensions. Sin harms the relationships among the dimensions while Jesus Christ redeems them.