Therapy as 3-Body Problem

Liu Cixin’s 2006 novel Three-Body Problem (三体) leapt into the imagination of Americans last year when Netflix transformed it into a series of the same name. As with most compelling sci-fi stories, the plot produces an uncanny eeriness by blending an outrageous scenario with themes that are hyperrelevant to people in the present moment. In this case, the themes of perpetual surveillance, the irredeemability of the human race, techno-authoritarianism, and the failed ideals of intellectual progress all hit pretty hard. So even though Liu is confronting his readers with a story of alien invasion, he’s really commenting on something we know too well; namely, humanity is suffering a slow death. What will save us? Math? Science? Extraterrestrials? 
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Even though readers can easily side-step the nuances of the physics and mathematical problems named in the book’s title, I’d like to argue that therapists could benefit from slowing down and grappling with the complexity of the 3-body problem. Why? If you have clients suffering from “co-occurring disorders,” then you effectively have clients suffering from a biopsychosocial three-body problem. 
Consider that term, which therapists use all the time but rarely deconstruct: Bio-psycho-social. Three “bodies” acting upon and within one individual client. We assess our clients’ biological, psychological, and social circumstances as if each of those “dimensions” was exerting its own physical power over the person whose problems we’re helping to navigate. If we add the spiritual dimension, then a fourth “body” enters the picture and the scenario gets even more complex. 

As it turns out, the n-body problem of the Bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of our client is a perfect analogue to the mathematical three-body problem highlighted in Liu’s novel. Mastery of Newton’s laws governing gravity and motion help us map the complexities of one planet orbiting another body, such as the sun. But when another body exerting its own gravitational effect enters the picture, Newton’s laws start to become less helpful. In fact, once a third-body enters the celestial picture, it becomes impossible to accurately predict the precise motions of bodies. As such, it becomes impossible to develop certainty about the effects of each body upon the other. This mathematical problem becomes a “real” problem if you live on one of the “bodies” tangled in the 3-body celestial orbit. And if you’re thinking that such phenomena are relegated to the world of sci-fi, I will politely redirect your attention to the chaos of the biopsychosocial-spiritual reality in which you’re ensconced and point out that, hey, you’re gonna need to brush up on your “math.”

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