A Controversy

Normally, I do not address background issues in this blog. I have had to in a number of other blogs, dues to unscrupulous attempts to ruin the sites,  but with "The Forgotten Grief", I thought I would never have to since in almost 40 years, my work and reputation have been so well known.  An unfortuate amount of controversy has arisen, partly coming from that other direction, as some highly unethical folk have attempted to all but erase even my identity and early career history.  If it were not that serious, I would not address the following, but it seems necessary after so long a time.  As a Christian, I will not 'name names', nor get into gory details, but rather focus on a few facts about my own life and career, so that any one encountering unfortunate information, may have the 'other side.' My bio and cv may be found at elizabethkirkleybest.blogspot.com which may be all verified either online or by university indices.  If something cannot be found, it may be in a special index or archive, and one can easily write to me if there is any doubt, and I will be happy to provide the source, which is almost always 'checkable'.  Part of the problem has arisen, as several people have attempted to 'rewrite' my early articles and works, in some cases with politically and religiously charged motives.  In two cases, several articles have been 'reworked' and republished under a different name but this is unethical and illegal and in at least one case, the person was not even in the field.

When Dr. Kellner and I published several foundational articles many years ago, all the work behind our work was either based upon my dissertation and research, or his and Dr. Donnelly's Perinatal Mortality Counseling Program in OB-Gyn at UF.  As such, all of our work was done at the hosptial or in Psychology, carefully documented, monitored, approved and in some cases videotaped and signed. Every piece of research we did had to go through a process of several department's approval, and our team approach greatly benefitted us, in that we both had constant professional witnesses to our work.  Back then it was a very unique work, with few involved even nationally,  but even then, we encountered an occasional author who thought we should give him or her greater mention, etc, as the human ego is a frail thing.  However, Dr. Kellner and myself (he has recently passed away) had an M.D./Ph.D and a PhD respectively: his in Obstetrics and internship in Psychiatry, and mine in Psychology, in a research division.  Dr. Kellner had high level writing and publishing experience as well, and even in my early years, my training in research, statistics and writing was above what most graduate students had.  We published together for a few years, then each of us published independently, and successfully.

A few facts:

1. All of our research is verifiable and 'certified', obtaining back then multiple committee approvals, and other still proveable evidences.

2. My doctorate is in Personality Psychology (a research/academic degree) from University of Florida Department of Psychology, and I have taught at UNF, UF, NEOU Coll Medicine, a seminary and several other places over the years part time.   His obituary states the following:

Union College, where he was an Eliphalet Nott Scholar. Attending the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center in the Combined-Degree Program, he received both a M.D. and Ph.D. degree in 1973 doing research in embryology. This was followed by a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami and a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Florida. He was board certified in both fields and had been on the faculty of the University of Florida since 1977.

3. Both of us in the course of our careers received grants and our publications are accessible and well-known, including the most cited lit-review, "The Forgotten Grief" in American J Orthopsychiatry in 1982. (see Google Scholar)

4. "The Forgotten Grief" was a literature review in 1982, but had also been the title of the perinatal section of my dissertation which is available online, including on forgottengrief.wordpress.com and via the digital collections of George Smathers Library, UF.  I own the copyright to my dissertation.

5. One of the biggest challenges to my work, after we had ceased working together, was at NEOUCOM in 1984-86 when after years in the field, one woman there who had not received her doctorate at that time, and in a very different area, 'wanted in' on the work.  It was then an unqualified person, and my work was already established: I have since that time worked independently completely.

6.In 1985, though I had been completely secular before,  I became a Christian. Part of the conflict has been that, as some persons not aware of ethics in research think they can 'have' or 'rewrite' my early work, which is of course ludicrous.   The challenges are attempts at career ruin, and occasionally affronts to free speech as some early work shows developing maternal attachment in pregnancy.

7. One woman in the literature has developed what she calls the "Prenatal Maternal Attachment Inventory", but Kellner and I developed an instrument of that name in 1979-80, where it was validated in OB clinics.  This is verifiable: it is also mentioned back then in a significant legal brief. My field is also partly test development and I had used the instrument early.

8. My dissertation has the 'Grief Scale' developed for raters in Perinatal bereavement, which was also validated and checked for inter-rater reliability.  I included some of that data in the appendix of my dissertation, although several versions other than the originals, have shown up with one of the pages missing.  The original is available and was verified through my doctoral committee and via the graduate school office for Dissertations and Theses.

9. I presented in 1984 in Toronto at APA a paper called "Authenticity and Grief: Grief is Not a Disease", a Response to George Engel's "Is Grief a Disease".  Copies of the paper were distributed then, and abstracts are still available.  I believe the conference session was also recorded.

10. While several of my articles may be found online, a few require a trip to a university library, although I am trying to post copies on forgottengrief.judahsglory.com (forgottengrief.com is also mine, but currently awaiting the site being rebuilt.  Formerly it was(is) at angelfire.com/journal2/forgottengrief.

11. My last professional article in the field was "The Hidden Family Grief" at Kirkley-Best, E., & VanDevere, C. The hidden family grief: An overview of grief in the family following perinatal death .

 Journal International Journal of Family Psychology & Psychiatry1986 (7)Pp:419-437.Cited by 26 The journal has either become defunct or changed names, and I have not found the exact outcome of it.  This article was part of a two part study conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, Akron Children's Medical Center, and Dr. Van Devere was the past chair of the department, though he is now retired. He was added as he made the facilities available and contributed to the discussion.

12. Very early, I developed helps for parents as well as professional resources.  These included songs, poems and even things like burial blanket designs, and cross-stitch patterns for commemorating babies' deaths.  One poem was published in Best, Elizabeth Kirkley. Pharos: J Medical Humanities: 1985,48(2) p. 36

 13. Some of the resources were published in SHARE's earliest resource manual by Sr. Jane Marie Lamb, Springfield/Belleville Illinois.  

14. One of the current issues that keeps coming up is Counseling Parents Experiencing Perinatal Death: A Handbook for Parents & Professionals.  This was originally published in 1982-3, and was distributed nationally, and at the APA Convention in 1983 in Anaheim CA where I gave the first APA workshop to both physicians and psychologists.  This is still listed in APA records. The handbook in workshop form has been online for over 17 years on the site "The Forgotten Grief".  I revamped it to 'book' form in 2007,  but am still working on a 3rd edition.  I have never sold the rights to it, nor invited anyone to ruin it.  

15. Last but not least, "forgottengrief.com" (currently only for redirect) has been located several places on the net for years, most eminently at forgottengrief.com and angelfire.com/journal2/forgottengrief.   For the past 2-3 years I have been rebuilding the site on forgottengrief.judahsglory.com which I also own.  My registration is too well known.  The site was not to start a war, to go full time back into the field, to be an affront to any other project or person, but was a receptacle for basic comfort and information on the topic so that the very substantial work of those early years would not go to waste.  It is strictly for aid in mourning.   I am not affiliated with SHARE, HAND, or any other parent or hospital group currently.  In 1987-8 I redirected to ministry, then to Shoah Studies for the Church, but kept up this work part-time in the background.

I have to say in sum that I am utterly appalled at the unprofessional conduct emerging these days at universities, in churches, etc in which people attempt to 'bulldoze' another's career and work (particularly at the end) for the main purpose of getting ahead, or thinking they can just show up and take the place of someone who has worked in the area for 40 years.  The gesture is insane, and hurts everyone in the field,as well as parent care.  There is no competition here:  I started around 23 and I am now 63:  mostly I am finishing the last few things I meant to write or get in order, in order to aid in the foundation of a continuing work.  My last speech in the field was a keynote in NY at the national conference called "The Mourning After Death", a play on Emily Dickinson's poem, calling for honesty and authenticity in our approach to grief: to recognize that we are not there for anyone but the bereaved: our careers, reputations etc. can wait.  I also said then, that I had serious questions about research becoming an intrusion and an affront to care, as people were even in that field trying to get ahead and 'make their fortune' off the death of infants.  How sad!  How sad to have to write this 40 years later!   I have just said my 'goodbyes' to two old friends and influences on my career, and have had also to say goodbye in 2005 to Jane Marie Lamb.  My great desire for the field is that research and careers do not become the 'main thing' in Perinatal Grief and Mourning, but comfort, teaching and care to keep parents from despair.  I make that a challenge to the new generation moving up into all of our places.