Radically Reimagining the Case Study in Psychotherapy

This book views the history of psychology as an ongoing dialectic between two paradigms: the Classical Experimental Design, derived from the group-based research method in Wundt’s 1879 Psychological Laboratory, vs. Freud’s Psychotherapy Case Study, typified by the 1905 case of Dora. In psychotherapy, this dialectic is captured by Donald Peterson’s paradigms of Applied Science vs. Disciplined Inquiry, respectively. Employing a neopragmatic epistemology, the book demonstrates that theories are socially constructed conceptual tools whose value is determined by their ability to solve human problems, and thus different theories can be of value in particular circumstances. In this context, the book argues that systematic, individual psychotherapy case studies—accumulated in large databases for generalizing from their particular contexts—are a crucial source of knowledge in the field, and presents four detailed examples of a paradigm for such case studies, the Pragmatic Case Study in Psychotherapy (PCSiP). Describing the ability to conduct and write up a PCSiP as a crucial criterion of a psychotherapist’s competency, it highlights the necessity of incorporating requirements for the writing of systematic case studies across the “psychotherapy ecosystem” of doctoral-level health service psychologists at training, licensing, board certification, practice, and research levels. The book is accompanied by an online appendix with further detail on the dialectic between applied science and disciplined inquiry in the history of psychology and psychotherapy. Radically Reimagining the Case Study Method in Psychotherapy will be of interest to individuals throughout the psychotherapy ecosystem. This includes advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of methodology, qualitative research, psychopathology, psychotherapy intervention, history of psychology, and the philosophy of science.