Читать книгу Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology - Robert Weis - Страница 123

A case study is a detailed description of a person, group, or phenomenon. Researchers who conduct case studies provide as much detail as possible about the person’s background, current functioning, and other relevant aspects of his or her life. Case studies may also describe the person’s development or response to treatment. Case studies focus on idiographic assessment—that is, they assess a person’s unique abilities, experiences, and behaviors (Fishman, 2018b).

Case studies are especially useful to describe new disorders. For example, in 1932, two German doctors named Franz Kramer and Hans Pollnow described children with a new condition that they called “hyperkinetic disease” (Lange, Reichl, Lange, Tucha, & Tucha, 2010). The children had no history of injury or illness, yet their behavior caused problems at home and school. Their most striking feature was their hyperactivity:

These children cannot sit still for a second. They run up and down the room, climb about preferring high furniture in particular, and are displeased when deterred from acting out their motor impulses. They indiscriminately touch or move everything available without pursuing a goal.