32 Chapter 1 by Esmée Schijven and one idiographic research project by Lotte Gosens. The former forms the basis for the first two chapters of this dissertation, while the latter project adopted a repeated single case study design by means of collecting EMA data. At that time, researchers at Pluryn (a.o. Roy Otten and Evelien Poelen) wondered how to best analyze EMA data. And so did I. Traditional nomothetical analyses felt somewhat underequipped to unravel the richness of these data. That year, I took the elective analytical course dynamics of complex systems, taught by Fred Hasselman, Maarten Wijnants, and Merlijn Olthof. They spoke about non-linear timeseries analyses to study the unicity of a single individual's behavioral dynamics. I probably understood not even 5% of what they talked about in the course (terms like periodicity, order parameters, fractal dimensions, bifurcations, dynamic complexity, entropy, spectral slopes, synergetics, and perturbations are enough to make anyone's head spin). Despite the avalanche of difficult terminology, one thing did stand out: this was the study of individuals, instead of averages of distributions (cf. McManus et al., 2023), which made it both fascinating and highly relevant. Moreover, it seemed an underexplored field of research. I had to learn more, which is why I joined the Complex Systems Group (which is now called CiBS group). I thought then that youngsters at Pluryn stood to gain considerable advantages if we could incorporate innovative insights from complexity science in daily care. Conversely, insights from real-world experiences in specialized care could ensure that complex systems theoretical principles remain grounded and applicable. Right before my PhD, I found myself somewhere in between practice and complexity science. In hindsight, it was inevitable that Anna Lichtwarck-Aschoff, whose research focus is as practiceoriented as it is complexity, would join Roy and Evelien in supervising the dissertation you are about to read. Acknowledgments I would like to thank Roy Otten, Evelien Poelen, Anna Lichtwarck-Aschoff, Anna Bosman, and Angela Luteijn for their feedback on earlier versions of this general introduction. Another special thanks goes to Emre Sezen, who made the four wonderful drawings you see at the beginning of this chapter.
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