case history, n.Definitions

A Case history (n.) told ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠by the patient cannot be taken at face value, any more than a syphilitic's account of his own past.

A Case history (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be pure metal, its findings visible almost without interpretation, where elsewhere they must be smelted from ore.

A Case history (n.) reads ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠like a short story, Freud admitted with some embarrassment, because the subject demands a novelist's detail.

Case history (n.) must ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠never alter a detail, however good the motive: one cannot tell which aspect a reader of independent judgement will pick out.

A Case history (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠prejudiced by the unavowed philosophy the empirical intellect imports into its arrangement, its judgment and even its "objective" presentation, however punctilious it is — any science worth the name criticizes its assumptions.

A Case history (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠is incomplete should be restored like a careful archaeologist's find, marking where the authentic ends and the construction begins.

A Case history (n.) told ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠at the start of treatment is like an unnavigable river, choked by rocks in one place and lost among shallows in another.

A Case history (n.) honestly ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠told is no story of triumph but a saga of blunders, doubts and false clues — nearer the truth than a case that brilliantly confirms the therapist's preconceptions.