ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Writing a psychological focused life story of an individual recently deceased is a sensitive task. On one hand I wanted to honor and respect Bobby Fischer’s memory and legacy, being fully aware that he is survived by his brother-in-law, two nephews, and great nieces/ nephew who may one day read this book (see Targ, 2008). On the other hand, as a psychological researcher, I needed to maintain objec- tivity in understanding the inner life of Bobby Fischer, including both psychological strengths and challenges. To understand Bobby as fully as a biographer who did not know him can, necessitates deep study of the individual’s life, as well as his genetic and family history. This is a deeply personal venture and throughout my work on this book over the past four years I never lost site that I must write in a scholarly, yet respectful, thoughtful, sensitive, and balanced manner.

A particularly sensitive task in writing this psychobiography was addressing the possibility that Bobby Fischer was at some point, men- tally ill. If Bobby did suffer from a mental illness recognized in the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psy -

chiatric Association, 2000) it is one important aspect of a comprehen- sive understanding of his life. Though some psychobiographers (e.g., Schultz, 2005b) refrain from hypothesizing specific psychological dis- orders, my view is that at times such an analysis can add to the com- prehensive nature of a life story. In Bobby Fischer’s case, accurately understanding his mental states over time could help explain in a more coherent way, behavior that may seem bizarre to the layperson’s eye. Generally speaking, psychologists, mental health counselors, and other mental health professionals (psychiatrists, social workers) do not proffer psychological diagnoses of individuals with whom they have never met and interviewed at length in person. I had never met Bobby Fischer and he certainly was not a patient/client of mine. However, in this book I do explore the topic of mental illness over the course of Bobby’s life, and I provide a tentative differential diagnosis. As a psy- chologist and mental health counselor I am guided by the profession- al ethical codes of my profession. More specifically, below I quote sec- tions of the ethical codes of both the American Psychological Associa - tion (APA) and the American Mental Health Counselors’ Association (AMHCA) that relate to my psychological assessment and diagnosis of Bobby Fischer (see Chapter Seven).

From the Code of Ethics of the American Psychological Association (APA)

Psychologists provide opinions of the psychological characteristics of individuals only after they have conducted an examination of the in - dividual adequate to support their statements or conclusions. When, despite reasonable efforts, such an examination is not practical, psy- chologists document the efforts they made and the result of those efforts, clarify the probable impact of their limited information on the reliability and validity of their opinions, and appropriately limit the nature and extent of their conclusions or recommendations. (APA, 2002, 9.01(b) Bases for Assessment, p. 13)

From the Code of Ethics of the American Mental Health Counselors’ Association (AMHCA)

a. Mental health counselors base their diagnoses and other assess- ment summaries on multiple sources of data whenever possible. b. Mental health counselors are careful not to draw conclusions

unless empirical evidence is present.

c. Mental health counselors consider multicultural factors (including but not limited to gender, race, religion, age, ability, culture, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation) in test interpretation, in diagnosis, and in the formulation of prognosis and treatment recommenda- tions.

f. Mental health counselors write reports in a style that is clear, con- cise and easily accessible to the lay reader. (AMHCA, 2010, Sec - tion 1, D [Assessment and Diagnosis], code 2 [Interpretation and Reporting], a, b, c, and f, pp. 10–11)

In this book I weigh available observational evidence for various mental illnesses that have been attributed to Bobby Fischer in the lit- erature and media. Various authors have hypothesized that Bobby might have suffered from Asperger’s Disorder, Paranoid Schizo phren - ia, Paranoid Personality Disorder, Delusional Disorder, among others (see Chapter Seven). Though I do hypothesize that Bobby Fischer like- ly suffered from mental illness at certain points in his life, I emphasize at the outset that the diagnoses are only speculative in that Bobby Fischer was not a patient of mine, nor are there any psychological reports available from his brief consultations with psychiatrists, Dr. Harold Kline and Dr. Ariel Mengarini, during his youth/adolescence (discussed in Chapter Three).

Over the last two years as I have worked on the psychological autopsy section (Chapter Seven) of this book, I consulted on ethical issues with experienced leaders in the field of psychology, medicine, and law. These ongoing consultations facilitated self-monitoring of the ethical sensitivity and professional appropriateness of my research ef - forts. First, the psychologists thanked in the book “Acknowledgments” section were all asked to read my initial psychological autopsy (Pon - terotto, 2011) and review my ethical cautions in offering a profile of an individual who was not my patient. I continued to consult with some of these colleagues throughout my research and writing process. Se - cond, I had a phone conference consultation with Drs. Stephen Behnke

and Lindsay Childress-Beatty of the American Psychological Asso - ciation’s Ethics Office, who helped me frame the methods, intent, and limitations of my psychological profiling of Bobby Fischer. Third, Fordham University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviewed and approved my methods and procedures for accessing and drawing on sensitive archival document analysis related to Bobby Fischer’s family genealogy, including FBI files and psychiatric records.

From a medical ethics perspective, I received guidance from Dr. Marcus Zachary, D.O., former Chief of Medicine of Saint Francis hos- pital in San Francisco. Dr. Zachary emphasized, as did my psycholo- gist colleagues, the need to appropriately bracket my psychological assessment, carefully document the sources of my information, and high light the tentativeness and limitations of any diagnostic assess- ment. Finally, I met on multiple occasions with Joel Silverman, Esq., General Counsel of an international trading company, who read an earlier and much briefer version of this work and reviewed the ethical and legal appropriateness of my psychological assessment. These eth - ics consultations were helpful in guiding my work; however, I am fully responsible for the contents of this book.

RESEARCH METHODS

Probably more has been written about Bobby Fischer than any other chess player in history, including the renowned Paul Morphy and Jose Raoul Capablanca of centuries past, and Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov of recent years. Though there are some biographical accounts of Bobby Fischer that are carefully researched and meticu- lously prepared (e.g., Brady, 1973, 2011; Edmonds & Eidinow, 2004; Kasparov, 2003) there is much more written about Bobby’s life that is poorly researched and verified. In this book, I was careful to docu- ment all sources, and to triangulate both data collection methods and data information sources.

In terms of qualitative research methods to build the psychobiog- raphy, I relied on semi-structured and unstructured interviews, written document analysis, and review of audio- and videotapes made by or about Bobby Fischer. In terms of data information sources on Bobby, I relied on recollections of family members and acquaintances, close former friends, and various chess masters or chess insiders (e.g., tour-

nament directors and sponsors and chess authors). Furthermore, I studied various biographies of Bobby Fischer and reviewed thousands of pages of documents on or about Bobby and his family as reflected in articles, book chapters, and an extensive FBI report on Bobby’s mother, Regina Fischer. My research began in January, 2008, and ended with my review of the galley proofs for this book.

With a brief overview on the nature of psychobiography now pro- vided, and with ethical considerations and research methods in hand, let us proceed to Chapter Two for the story of Bobby Fischer.