In Pursuit of William James's McLean Hospital Records: An Inherent Conflict between Postmortem Privacy Rights and Advancing Psychological Science

Abstract

Psychological historians and psychobiographers advance our understanding of psychological theories through the intensive study of the lives of pioneering psychologists. In the course of their archival research, psychobiographers often uncover private information on the lives of historic psychologists that may never have been intended for public view and scrutiny. As such, psychobiographers need to balance considerations of the postmortem privacy of historic figures with the potential benefit to psychological science of revealing private information. Federal research guidelines and the ethical principles of the American Psychological Association concern themselves primarily with research on living subjects and are generally silent on best ethical practices regarding deceased historic and public figures. Using the case of William James's possible sojourn at McLean Hospital as an example, this article examines legal and ethical issues regarding the postmortem privacy protections of influential psychologists. An actuarial model is presented that recommends the postmortem time period after which private information, including mental health records, may become open to researchers. A decision-tree model on the process of requesting, securing, and reporting on such information is also presented. Finally, specific suggestions for follow-up qualitative and quantitative research on psychobiographical ethics are put forth.

Keywords

postmortem privacy psychobiography psychological ethics William James

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