ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study named Peter who was referred by his primary care physician for evaluation of anxiety and possible panic. Diagnosis using the Four Domains of Mental Illness (FDMI) led to a very different understanding and treatment of his condition. He developed a 2nd domain avoidant personality style, escaping further into anxiety, dysthymia and anger. The 2nd domain phenomenon that emerged from a Meyerian formulation of Peter's story was avoidant personality style. The FDMI recognizes that significant alterations in mood are common in illnesses in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd domains, and that these conditions must be ruled out before a 4th domain bipolar mood disorder can be diagnosed. Meyerian psychobiology and existential phenomenology, which underlie the approach taken in the FDMI, first separate and characterize pathological phenomena, then reunite these phenomena to recover the person.
