The person in personality research: an laternate lifestyle case study

The current crisis in personality research, with large-scale, objective, reductionistic, vs. individual, subjective, holistic paradigms, is seen as a real issue that reflects the prevailing schism between academic and professional, applied psychology. Each approach is seen as uniquely useful, but limited in its conception of man. A clinician-personologist approach that allows the combined implementation of the best of both traditions is proposed. A case study of a homosexual is presented as an illustration of this method, which also substantively provides a new perspective on man. Methodological considerations and refinements of this technique and closely related techniques also are discussed in the context of their relevance for both the "helping" orientation of professional psychology and the heuristic orientation of personology.