Case Study: Lavarenne et al 2013
Use of Case Studies:
Prospective - observe an individual or group of people to determine what will happen to them.
Retrospective - looks at historical information.
Instrumental - individual allows psychologist to understand more than initially observed.
Explores one event group of people or person in-depth.
In-depth data collected because of complex interactions.
Useful for studying rare or unusual behaviour.
Qualitative data may be the main data collected.
May include case history which is a record of an individual’s pervious experiences.
Evaluation:
Difficult to generalise from individuals or groups because each has unique characteristics.
Recollection of past events may be unreliable because people’s memories are inaccurate.
Lack objectivity.
Ethical issues like confidentiality.
Aims: Ego Boundaries:
Used outpatient therapy group to A fragile ego boundary means having a poor, less stable sense of
describe how a group can provide a firm self.
boundary within which individuals can It exists to protect one’s self, an individual with a fragile ego
explore their own fragile ego boundary is more vulnerable in general and specific terms of being
boundaries. less able to recognise the products of psychosis as unreal.
Over 70 individuals attended.
Researcher noticed that over the years,
group members increased their level of
maturity within the safety of the group
setting. Procedure:
The therapy group met regularly and usually had 10 members who
were all vulnerable to psychosis.
Sessions were not taped or video-recorded but a coding system was
Findings: used where emotions could be expressed as well as
Earl (member) - pipeline shows a thoughts/behaviours.
boundary and his sense of self. Verbal content was also coded like expressions of humour, loneliness
Dan (member) - was silent when first and insightful comments.
joined but now doesn’t stop talking. Session that was documented was the last one before Christmas
Out-of-body experience. which meant that the group would be having a break from their
Conclusions: weekly meetings.
Group members working hard to hold Findings:
themselves together. Earl (member) - his reaction to Brett giving everyone a Christmas
Impressive amount of tolerance, card. Rejected the gift and moved the conversation to multinational
acceptance and containment. oil project running a pipeline around the world.
Use of Case Studies:
Prospective - observe an individual or group of people to determine what will happen to them.
Retrospective - looks at historical information.
Instrumental - individual allows psychologist to understand more than initially observed.
Explores one event group of people or person in-depth.
In-depth data collected because of complex interactions.
Useful for studying rare or unusual behaviour.
Qualitative data may be the main data collected.
May include case history which is a record of an individual’s pervious experiences.
Evaluation:
Difficult to generalise from individuals or groups because each has unique characteristics.
Recollection of past events may be unreliable because people’s memories are inaccurate.
Lack objectivity.
Ethical issues like confidentiality.
Aims: Ego Boundaries:
Used outpatient therapy group to A fragile ego boundary means having a poor, less stable sense of
describe how a group can provide a firm self.
boundary within which individuals can It exists to protect one’s self, an individual with a fragile ego
explore their own fragile ego boundary is more vulnerable in general and specific terms of being
boundaries. less able to recognise the products of psychosis as unreal.
Over 70 individuals attended.
Researcher noticed that over the years,
group members increased their level of
maturity within the safety of the group
setting. Procedure:
The therapy group met regularly and usually had 10 members who
were all vulnerable to psychosis.
Sessions were not taped or video-recorded but a coding system was
Findings: used where emotions could be expressed as well as
Earl (member) - pipeline shows a thoughts/behaviours.
boundary and his sense of self. Verbal content was also coded like expressions of humour, loneliness
Dan (member) - was silent when first and insightful comments.
joined but now doesn’t stop talking. Session that was documented was the last one before Christmas
Out-of-body experience. which meant that the group would be having a break from their
Conclusions: weekly meetings.
Group members working hard to hold Findings:
themselves together. Earl (member) - his reaction to Brett giving everyone a Christmas
Impressive amount of tolerance, card. Rejected the gift and moved the conversation to multinational
acceptance and containment. oil project running a pipeline around the world.
