ABSTRACT
‘Case studies’ can reduce complex/beautiful human beings to flat/objectified characters defined by ‘presenting problems’ – ‘presenting problems’ which clever therapists ‘fix’. In response, this existentially-informed, person-centred piece reimagines a case study as a play – offering a piece of public psychotherapy for audience responses. The play seeks to convey the warmth of encounters between two rounded/unique characters, Deborah and Kate, offering a challenge to the ‘us’ and ‘them’ approach of many ‘case studies’; it contends that if this is achieved, it is this – rather than narrow/sterile advice about ‘assessment’, ‘formulation’ and ‘interventions’ – which establishes the usefulness of the work.
