Jd. Swendsen et Ml. Bourgeois, METHODOLOGY AND CONTRIBUTION OF SINGLE-CASE REPORTS IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, Annales medico-psychologiques, 156(6), 1998, pp. 421-424
Case studies are the paradigm which most closely corresponds to the na
tural experience of mental disorder in that these conditions are by na
ture individual phenomenona. However, the majority of empirical analys
es of large samples only examine the general characteristics of mental
disorders for ''most people''. It is therefore up to empirical resear
chers to learn from case study investigation to develop new methods wh
ich take the individual into account while describing the experience o
f psychopathology. Inspired by the power of case studies, the recent a
vailability of new statistical modeling techniques facilitates the sim
ultaneous treatment, of inter and intra-individual variance which more
closely corresponds to the actual experience of mental disorder. Alth
ough these new techniques cannot duplicate the role of case studies, t
hey nevertheless represent an important conceptual and empirical advan
ce in psychopathology research. This communication will present a revi
ew of the importance of case studies and describe how their influence,
in addition to other scientific advances, increases the appreciation
of the individual even within the scope of large empirical investigati
ons.