From Dynamic Gestalt to Critical Transformation: The Resonance-Inference Model and Its Clinical Application

In recent cognitive and psychological research, the self is increasingly understood not as a static substance but as a “dynamic gestalt”—a processual pattern of various components that stand in a non-hierarchical relationship with each other (Gallagher et al., 2023; Tschacher & Rössler, 1996). This view, advocated by Shaun Gallagher and others, stands in contrast to reductionistic explanations but raises the question of how this complex interplay functions without an explicit hierarchy and how the specific role of the narrative self-pattern can be understood.

The Resonance-Inference Model (RIM) (Leidig, 2025) offers a powerful meta-theoretical framework to address precisely this question. Based on six theoretical pillars, it explains the mechanism behind the dynamic organization of the self without reifying its components. It translates Gallagher's concept of the “dynamic gestalt” into a language of dynamics shaped by synergetics, predictive processing, and fractal affect logic.

Inspired by 4E cognition (Embodied, Enacted, Extended, Embedded) and Gallagher’s critique of a purely neuropsychiatric view, the RIM regards the self as an unstable, dissipative system that constantly exchanges energy with its environment and is maintained by this exchange. This system strives to maintain a state of “critical unbounding,” as described by Tucker, Luu, and Friston (Tucker et al., 2025). Each of the six theoretical pillars of the RIM provides a crucial piece of the puzzle, explaining the precise interaction and illuminating the active, formative, and agency-oriented role of the narrative self-pattern (Gallagher, 2023). The model thus enables a comprehensive, non-reductionistic understanding of mental disorders and therapeutic transformation processes.

Shaun Gallagher (2024) criticizes the strong tendency of psychiatry to transform into a purely neuropsychiatric field that primarily reduces the mind to neuronal processes. He advocates instead for a non-reductionistic and pluralistic approach that understands the self as a dynamic pattern of embodied, affective, social, and narrative processes. This approach, inspired by 4E cognition, views the brain, body, and environment as a single “explanatory unit” that captures the full complexity of psychiatric disorders. He emphasizes that psychiatry—and science in general—is not independent of epistemological and metaphysical assumptions. The way we conceptualize the mind directly influences research and practice. A more comprehensive understanding of the mind that also considers bodily and environmental factors therefore requires different research and treatment strategies.

Gallagher argues that the focus on purely neural processes leads to a false dichotomy between mind and brain and ignores the complex, interactive causes of mental disorders. While a purely neuropsychiatric perspective can identify the neural correlates of symptoms, it often fails to capture the lived experience and the socio-cultural contexts in which these disorders arise. He advocates for a paradigm shift that recognizes psychological, social, and existential dimensions as equally valid components of the self-pattern. The “explanatory unit” of brain, body, and environment clarifies that the self does not exist in an isolated brain but is constituted through a continuous, dynamic interaction with the world. From this perspective, pathology does not arise from a simple deficit in a single brain region but from disturbances in the complex dynamics of this “unit”—for example, through solidified, dysfunctional patterns that impair the system’s adaptability.

This pluralistic approach has direct clinical consequences. It suggests that therapeutic interventions should not be limited to pharmacological or cognitive corrections but must also include embodied (e.g., through movement), social, and narrative interventions to address the underlying dysfunctionality of the self-pattern. The dynamics of the mind, therefore, cannot be reduced to a single level but must be understood in their full, multidimensional complexity to enable sustainable healing.

The Resonance-Inference Model (RIM) provides a comprehensive framework for deciphering the complex functioning of the dynamic self-pattern. It translates Gallagher's processual "gestalt" into the language of systems dynamics, explaining how the various components of the self interact to create coherence and enable change. The RIM is based on the integration of six theoretical pillars that work together as puzzle pieces to explain the emergence, maintenance, and transformation of psychological patterns. In particular, it uses the Free-Energy-Principle (FEP) as an overarching mechanism that describes the brain in a constant state of prediction and error correction. It extends Gallagher's model with a spiritual dimension that serves as a higher-level narrative of meaning and represents a powerful source of sustainable change.

The Resonance-Inference Model (RIM) integrates the existential dimension of Frankl and Längle not as a mere philosophical superstructure but as a neurobiologically grounded mechanism of meaning-making within the FEP/PP context (Frankl, 1985; Längle, 2005). Shaun Gallagher (2023) recognizes a profound agreement of his self-pattern theory with Buddhist concepts of the non-self (Anatta) and emphasizes the role of mindfulness and meditation to reduce the rigidity of the self-pattern. The Buddhist concept of the non-self does not deny the existence of the organism but questions the assumption of a rigid, unchangeable, and independent self-core. This perspective remarkably converges with Gallagher's view of the self as a dynamic, processual pattern. From a neurocognitive perspective, mindfulness and meditation practices train the brain to observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations without identification. This process reduces the "predictive grip" on a rigid self-narration, which lowers the precision of the hierarchically superior self-predictions and facilitates the integration of new sensory inputs from the body and the environment. This breaks up the rigid, dysfunctional self-attractor and enables a new, more flexible self-organization. The development of a less fixated, "unbounded" perspective on the self thus becomes a crucial therapeutic mechanism that reduces suffering and provides the basis for a sustainable reordering. The RIM takes up this idea and expands it with a spiritual dimension as a potential new self-pattern component (Leidig, 2025). The existential neurology of meaning (Leidig, 2025), which connects Frankl's logotherapy and Längle's existential analysis with predictive processing, provides a crucial foundation for this. Frankl's "will to meaning" (Frankl, 1985) describes the search for a super-personal, transcendental significance. Längle shifted the focus from this objectively given meaning to the immanent, subjective shaping of existence in the here and now (Längle, 2005). From the perspective of Friston's FEP/PP, a spiritual dimension can be interpreted as a higher-level predictive model that gives the system a new, overarching horizon of meaning. It provides a value-based orientation that helps the organism find a coherent and harmonious life direction. Frankl's logotherapy and Längle's existential analysis provide the phenomenological and therapeutic concepts that describe this neurological process. The "will to meaning" can be understood as the neurobiologically grounded, driving prior that motivates the brain to develop and update predictive models aimed at meaning and value. When this will is frustrated, it creates a massive, irresolvable prediction error that manifests in the existential anxieties and suffering that Frankl called "noogenic neurosis" (Frankl, 1985). Längle's focus on the subjective dimension of meaning emphasizes that therapy must not only enable the finding of an abstract meaning but also the active, personal shaping of existence.

The existential dimension is therefore not an optional add-on but an integral part of the dynamic self-pattern. From this perspective, mental disorders can also be understood as a disorder of the fabric of meaning, in which dysfunctional predictive models make it impossible for the individual to anticipate and achieve a state considered meaningful. In this context, the spiritual experience, as it arises, for example, through deep meditative states or the experience of meaningfulness in interpersonal relationships, can bring about a therapeutic "reset." It enables the system not only to make individual error corrections (as is the case with conventional behavioral changes) but to revise its fundamental assumptions about itself and the world.

In cases where the system is trapped in a rigid, pathological attractor (e.g., in chronic depression or anxiety), conventional therapeutic interventions can often only have a symptomatic effect because the person's deep predictive models remain unchanged. However, a spiritual experience or a new meaning-making can initiate a phase transition. The system not only updates individual predictions but generates a fundamentally new, overarching predictive model—a new "narrative of meaning"—that enables the organism to act at a higher level and gain new degrees of freedom. The work of Tucker, Luu, and Friston on “critical unbounding” supports the idea that psychological change is associated with a reorganization of neural networks, leading to a new balance between excitation and inhibition and the establishment of new memory systems (Tucker et al., 2025). The integration of a spiritual dimension, which in the Resonance-Inference Model is referred to as “vertical resonance” (Leidig, 2025), describes a specific form of resonance relationship: the connection between the individual's inner system and an overarching, transcendental field. This resonance goes beyond interpersonal or intrapsychic resonance and provides a source of profound meaningfulness and transformation. It offers a way of understanding mental health not only as the absence of disorders but as the ability to enter into a coherent, meaningful relationship with oneself and the world.

The following case vignettes illustrate how the RIM can be applied in practice.

In the RIM, the goal of therapy is not to fix a single symptom but to disrupt the entire dysfunctional system and enable a phase transition to a new, healthier attractor. This is an emergent process in the sense of synergetics, in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The interplay of narrative reframing, correction of prediction errors, and changes in the affective and neurodynamic patterns leads to a new, coherent, and flexible self-organization. The narrative component is particularly important in this process because it acts as a "springboard" for this emergent change, enabling the system to rewrite the underlying predictive models. In this context, a spiritual dimension can act as a new, powerful narrative of meaning that lifts the entire system to a higher level of organization. Thus, the narrative self-pattern becomes a powerful tool to selectively open the Markov blanket and integrate new information that ultimately enables sustainable, emergent change. The therapeutic work is not only aimed at ending suffering but marks the beginning of a meaningful life, in which the person is able to actively shape and realize their own story.

The Resonance-Inference Model (RIM) makes a decisive contribution by bringing the disparate landscape of psychological and neurobiological theories together into a coherent, meta-theoretical framework. It overcomes reductionistic approaches by conceptualizing the self as a dynamic system whose disorders can be understood as solidified, dysfunctional attractors. The therapeutic task is therefore not primarily to combat individual symptoms but to specifically catalyze a phase transition—a fundamental change of state of the entire system.

The overarching importance of the narrative self-pattern becomes particularly clear in the RIM. It is the tool with which the organism continues to write its own story and reorders its fundamental predictive models. In interplay with other components, such as the affective and neurodynamic patterns, it enables sustainable, emergent change. The integration of a value-based, spiritual dimension, grounded in existential analysis by Frankl and Längle, expands this therapeutic approach and offers a path to healing that goes beyond pure suffering and strives for a meaningful, coherent, and fulfilled existence. The RIM is thus more than an explanatory model—it is a plea for a holistic psychotherapy that grasps the person in their full dynamic complexity and empowers them to actively shape their life.