Course Description

This seminar explores the full spectrum of Matthew Bennett’s Four Quadrants Model, charting the developmental and archetypal dynamics of personality across the Sensitive, Imperial, Radiant, and Penitent orientations. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, Jungian archetypes, and contemporary clinical perspectives, participants will examine how each quadrant represents a distinct constellation of defenses, relational styles, and existential themes—from the withdrawal and authenticity of the Sensitive personality to the power and control of the Imperial, the longing and relational hunger of the Radiant, and the self-reflection and moral depth of the Penitent. Through lecture, discussion, and case illustrations, the seminar provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the spiral path of personality development, clinical presentations, and therapeutic approaches across these archetypal terrains.

Learning Objectives

Describe the Four Quadrants Model—Sensitive, Imperial, Radiant, and Penitent—and explain how each quadrant represents a coherent constellation of archetypal orientation, defensive organization, and relational style.
Differentiate the four quadrants in terms of dominant anxieties, characteristic defenses, and existential themes, enabling clinicians to formulate personality organization beyond symptom-based diagnosis.
Analyze how developmental arrest, inflation, or moral injury manifests differently within each quadrant, allowing clinicians to anticipate transference–countertransference patterns and common therapeutic impasses.
Apply the Circumplex model of personality development to clinical material in order to select quadrant-attuned therapeutic stance, pacing, and interpretive focus, supporting movement toward greater integration rather than quadrant fixation.

The Aion Institute is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. The Aion Institute (AIO279) maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

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AION 306 The Spiral Path II: The Four Quadrants