These domains rest on a biological foundation: sleep, shelter, food, and physical health, without which the psychological needs above are difficult to sustain.

When the domains are reasonably fulfilled and the circle is whole, people tend to experience a sense of vitality, belonging, direction, and psychological stability.

When one or more domains are chronically deprived, threatened, or fractured, through adverse experiences, relational harm, loss, illness, or environments that consistently fail to meet fundamental needs, people experience distress, emotional suffering, and over time, clinically significant mental health difficulties.

Equally important is how people attempt to fulfill their needs: adaptive strategies support genuine, lasting wellbeing, while maladaptive strategies may temporarily relieve distress but ultimately deepen the fracture, sometimes harming the person, those around them, or both.

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Together, CPP and CONAF offer a way of seeing the whole person: not as a diagnosis to be managed, but as an individual to be understood.