Books On Psychopathy.

Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us - by Robert D. Hare
comments: I have been acquainted with some first class psychopaths and there is very little information on the subject available to the public. Current psychiatry doesn't know much about them. It is very true that even most psychologists/psychiatrists are fooled by them because they have learned the art of posturing for their audience (victims). They may appear to be the understanding, sensitive, fun person you always dreamed about. I have had an aunt and a friend almost killed by their husbands who fit the psycho profile, and you would never guess it. They were both left with massive debts. The lengths these husbands went to, to build an illusion, were amazing. I was so shocked when I found out their real history, and I think they did actually love their wives, at least as much as they were capable of. I was very glad to find Hare's book on the subject and just absorbed every word. - Reviewer: A reader from Los Angeles

The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So Called Psychopathic Personality - by Hervey Cleckley
comments:Some say Cleckley is outdated. I say “Never”! Cleckley doesn’t deal in his book with hardened criminals or serial killers, but rather the kinds of psychopaths that wandered into his practice. For this reason, there are no heinous crimes to distract or any anger to make us turn away, but rather we can observe with a more detached curiosity and learn a lot about the nature of psychopaths.Pat Brown/Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler/The Sexual Homicide Exchange, Inc.

Inside the Criminal Mind - by Stanton Samenow
comments:Dr. Samenow clearly describes HOW a criminal thinks and behaves. This uncompromising look at antisocial behavior is very valuable to the psychiatrist, social worker and anyone involved in the criminal justice system. Many of those involved in deciding the fate of offenders lack the ability to understand that criminals, especially psychopthic ones, are not even playing on the same gameboard as the rest of society. Samenow's experience clearly shows the care one must take in analyzing the ability of offenders to function noncriminally in the world outside of an institutional setting. Samenow's theory on how the offender develops his peculiar viewpoint of the world is, however, seriously deficient. He simply accuses the criminal of having developed his narcissistic personality from the moment of birth unaided in any manner by family or society. On the other hand, his treatment of the offender relies strictly on behavior modification and his prevention of the development of criminal minds also stresses good parenting skills and a more responsive society. He contradicts himself in his confusion of nuture versus nature versus individual responsibility. None of us has the exact answer in this matter and Samenow would be better off not trying to make any conclusions in an area in which he lacks a comfortable argument. Regardless of this downside to the book, the work is an extremely good resource for understanding the working of the psychopathic mind. Pat Brown, Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler, The Sexual Homicide Exchange of Washington DC and Vicinity

Savage Spawn - by Jonathan Kellerman
comments: Amazon.com Jonathan Kellerman is best known as the author of a series of bestselling suspense novels starring psychologist sleuth Dr. Alex Delaware, but his nonliterary background is as a children's clinical psychologist. In Savage Spawn, inspired by the schoolyard shootings that took place in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Springfield, Oregon, in 1998, he brings his training to bear on the question of how children can become cold-blooded killers. Kellerman has as much--perhaps more--to say about the broader issue of the nature of psychopathy, however, than he does about youth violence, though he does occasionally bring the two themes together. But Savage Spawn is essentially a hundred-page-plus op-ed piece rooted in Kellerman's belief that there are fundamentally bad people in the world and that the response to the perpetrators of violent acts such as the shooting at Jonesboro should be to "lock them up till they die." (Although published shortly after the multiple-death shooting in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, the book was clearly written before this incident took place.) Readers may ultimately prefer more detailed considerations such as William Pollack's Real Boys or Lost Boys, by James Garbarino.

The Antisocial Personalities - by David Lykken
comments: this is a very good, readable book on antisocial personalities. david covers all aspects of the disorder in a very readable fashion. there is even bits and pieces of humor thrown in too. loved his two paragraph statement on how psychodynamics describes antisocials. essential reading for any therapist or forensic scientist. - Reviewer: A reader from harris minnesota

Psychopathy : Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behavior - by by Theodore Millon (Editor), Erik Simonsen (Editor), Morten Birket-Smith (Editor), Roger D. Davis (Editor)
comments:In 28 papers derived from a 1994 Scandinavian symposium on borderline conditions, social scientists and clinicians address multiple facets of the still controversial first designated personality disorder of psychopathy: its history and viewpoints, typologies, etiology, and comorbidity. Beyond various models of personality and ten subtypes of psychopathy (Millon and Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies in Personality and Psychopathology; Coral Gables, FL), implications for the mental health and criminal justice systems are probed. Lykken (U. of Minnesota) provocatively advocates parental licensure; the chief psychiatrist of Danish prisons discusses treating the "untreatable" in her country. Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR