The memoir of a high-functioning, law-abiding (well, mostly) sociopath and a roadmap—right from the source—for dealing with the sociopath in your life. “[A] gripping and important book . . . revelatory . . . quite the memorable roller coaster ride.”—The New York Times Book Review As M.E. Thomas says of her fellow sociopaths, “We are your neighbors, your coworkers, and quite possibly the people closest to you: lovers, family, friends. Our risk-seeking behavior and general fearlessness are thrilling, our glibness and charm alluring. Our often quick wit and outside-the-box thinking make us appear intelligent—even brilliant. We climb the corporate ladder faster than the rest, and appear to have limitless self-confidence. Who are we? We are highly successful, noncriminal sociopaths and we comprise 4 percent of the American population.” Confessions of a Sociopath—part confessional memoir, part primer for the curious—takes readers on a journey into the mind of a sociopath, revealing what makes them tick while debunking myths about sociopathy and offering a road map for dealing with the sociopaths in your life. M. E. Thomas draws from her own experiences as a diagnosed sociopath; her popular blog, Sociopathworld; and scientific literature to unveil for the very first time these men and women who are “hiding in plain sight.”

From Dr. Martha Stout's influential work The Sociopath Next Door, we learned how to identify a sociopath. Now she tells us what to actually do about it. While the best way to deal with a sociopath is to avoid them entirely, sometimes circumstance doesn't allow for that. What happens when the time comes to defend yourself against your own child, a boss, or ruthless ex-spouse? Inspired by the many chilling and often heartbreaking emails and letters she has received over the years, from her work with the victims of sociopathy, Dr. Martha Stout uncovers the psychology behind the sociopath's methods and provides concrete guidelines to help navigate these dangerous interactions. Organized around categories such as destructive narcissism, violent sociopaths, sociopathic coworkers, and the sociopath in your family, Outsmarting the Sociopath Next Door contains detailed explanation and commentary on how best to react in these situations to keep the sociopath at bay. Uniting these categories is a discussion of changing psychological theories of personality and sociopathy and the enduring triumph of conscience over those who operate without empathy or concern for others. By understanding the person you're dealing with and changing the rules of the game, you'll be able to gain the upper hand and escape the sociopath's influence. Whether you're fighting a custody battle against a sociopathic ex or being gaslighted by a boss or coworker, you'll find hope and help within these pages. With this guide to disarming the conscienceless, Dr. Stout aims to give readers the tools to protect themselves while conducting a broader examination of human behavior and conceptions of normality.

In his "remarkable" (Men's Journal) and "controversial" (Fortune) book -- written in a "wry, amusing style" (The Guardian) -- Bruce Cannon Gibney shows how America was hijacked by the Boomers, a generation whose reckless self-indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity. In A Generation of Sociopaths, Gibney examines the disastrous policies of the most powerful generation in modern history, showing how the Boomers ruthlessly enriched themselves at the expense of future generations. Acting without empathy, prudence, or respect for facts--acting, in other words, as sociopaths--the Boomers turned American dynamism into stagnation, inequality, and bipartisan fiasco. The Boomers have set a time bomb for the 2030s, when damage to Social Security, public finances, and the environment will become catastrophic and possibly irreversible--and when, not coincidentally, Boomers will be dying off. Gibney argues that younger generations have a fleeting window to hold the Boomers accountable and begin restoring America.

I’m scum. Yes, I always have been. . . . I know what I did, and what I should have done. A spellbinding and provocative psychological thriller that shows just how far a man will go to win the most enduring and ruthless of games: the game of power. Raised in the upper echelons of elite New York society, Thomas Spencer has never wanted for much. But much is hardly enough for a man whose greatest satisfaction lies in shattering the happiness of others. Thomas, the black sheep of his family, harbors only resentment toward those closest to him for what they have more of: good looks, good cheer, good social graces. But what Thomas may lack in charm, he makes up for in cunning. And it is this that will serve him best when he trades in his glittering world of privilege for a chance to claw his way to the top—on his own terms, and at any cost. As Thomas achieves fame and success as an ad man, he becomes ever more deeply entrenched in an insidious underworld of media, politics, and women, and an astonishing picture emerges of a complex, destructive personality who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Shameless and electrifying, Story of a Sociopath illuminates the true nature of power through the mind of a master psychological manipulator.

Who is the devil you know? Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband? Your sadistic high school gym teacher? Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings? The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own? In the pages of The Sociopath Next Door, you will realize that your ex was not just misunderstood. He’s a sociopath. And your boss, teacher, and colleague? They may be sociopaths too. We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people—one in twenty-five—has an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths more charming or interesting than the other people around them. They’re more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others’ suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win. The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we know—someone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted for—is a sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game. It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know.

What if society wasn't fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity? This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness. Along the way, Jon meets psychopaths, those whose lives have been touched by madness and those whose job it is to diagnose it, including the influential psychologist who developed the Psychopath Test, from whom Jon learns the art of psychopath-spotting. A skill which seemingly reveals that madness could indeed be at the heart of everything . . . Combining Jon Ronson's trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is both entertaining and honest, unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges. 'The belly laughs come thick and fast – my God, he is funny . . . provocative and interesting' – Observer

The name's Aeron Lore. And you are...? Such a pleasure to meet you, sweetheart. Is that a southern accent? Gorgeous. You f*****g bitch. Why so surprised? I control a billion dollar fortune. I control the news. Give me five minutes and I'll control you, too. If you could read my mind, you'd probably call me perverted. Unnatural. Manipulative. But I've learned to blend in, to be funny and charming. A predator in a designer suit. I have no conscience. No shame in taking the things I want. And what I wanted was for Leontine Reeves to sell me her boutique tech firm so I could exploit the f*ck out of it. Maybe exploit the f*ck out of her, too, because desire haunts me in shades of scarlet, and I desire Leo most of all. I never meant for this to be a love story. I fought it kicking and screaming, the same way Leo fought me. Now we're bleeding into each other, making a mess. A chaos. There's no control here. And what do monsters like me do when control leaves the building? We attack.

From the author of Whole Again comes a significantly expanded edition of Psychopath Free—containing new chapters, updated content, and real survivor experiences—that will help you recover from emotionally abusive relationships with narcissists, sociopaths, and other toxic people. Have you ever been in a relationship with a psychopath? Chances are, even if you did, you would never know it. Psychopaths are cunning charmers and master manipulators, to the point where you start to accept the most extreme behaviors as normal...Even if it hurts you. All around us, every single day, human beings devoid of empathy are wreaking havoc and destroying lives in the coldest, most heartless ways imaginable. In constant pursuit of money, sex, influence, or simple entertainment, psychopaths will do whatever it takes to gain power over others. They hide behind a veil of normalcy, arranging their friends and partners like pawns in a game of chess. Using false praise and flattery to get what they want, they can lure any unsuspecting target into a relationship. Once hooked, their charming promises spin into mind games and psychological torture. Victims are left devastated and confused, unable to recognize—or even put into words—the nightmare that just took place. Written from the heart, Psychopath Free is the first guide for survivors written by a survivor, offering hope for healing and thriving after psychopathic abuse. Say goodbye to the chaos, self-doubt, and victimization. You are free.

Sociopaths-who are they? What do they want? How long have we known about them? How many are out there? And what can you do when around them? Welcome to The Sociopath's Playbook. Delve deep into the mind–sets of abusive individuals and immerse in strategies to counter them. Designed around the latest diagnostic manuals from the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association, The Sociopath's Playbook weaves together the most up–to–date clinical analyses available to provide a detailed look into the mind of a sociopath. Feeling lied to, cheated, or stolen from? Look no further. The Sociopath's Playbook provides fifty action plans for a variety of real–life situations to address abusers in their tracks. Conlon tackles the bullying, intimidation, callousness, and manipulation, offering genuinely inspirational and uplifting messages-all while refusing to blame others for how they might have been born. "Part of antisocial personality disorder deals with an individual's potential incapacity. In other words, when others have made you to feel as if you have no value, now you know, others simply lacked the ability to value you and your abilities. Let your self–esteem soak that in. Hang in there-life can get better." All this and more-fresh perspectives on pressing questions like do people choose what they feel? What does the word antisocial really mean? Do experts agree that sociopaths and psychopaths are the same? Does every human being experience empathy similarly? Can sociopaths change? At what age should they be diagnosed? Is sociopathy a learned or inherited condition? Are women or men more likely to be sociopaths? Are sociopaths truly smarter than others? Are they truly fearless? What strategies help potential victims in identifying them? And what courses of action can victims take to empower themselves?

The Sociopaths Guide to Scamming the System Finally the why and how a sociopath spousal abusers game works. There are two versions of this amazingly daring book. The shorter all-color page picture book version, which is the FIRST DRAFT COLLECTORS EDITION, and the black and white interior design, that is a longer slightly more information comprehensive version of the same material. Victims are encouraged to purchase the longer less costly black and white interior edition. What is The Sociopaths Guide to Scamming the System all about? It is about how they do it, why they do it and how they manage to actually get away with it. This book describes how these predators get away with all of it including manipulating the police, medical professionals, psychiatric professionals and other s. In such maneuvers the in-home or spousal sociopath predator can extend his/her reach of abusive power and control. This at times snarky or sarcastically presented book is written as a warning guideline for victims of what are oftentimes the worst types of sociopath/sociopath-type con artists. The primary focus of The Sociopaths Guide to Scamming the System is the methods and agendas of the in-home or alleged family person type of sociopath predator. This book is not actually meant to be utilized as a How-To-Do guide for abusive individuals or con men. The methods described in this book may or may not always work without a hitch. Variables exist, including but not limited to the following: Variables in the adult victim of the abuse, age and sophistication level of any child or children involved (i.e. children used by the abuser as pawns), intelligence or lack thereof of any police, social workers, welfare department workers and others involved in any particular case. In creating this book this writer interviewed numerous other victims in careful analysis of their stories. When others were interviewed a certain level of proof of their reasonable innocence was required as well as consistency in their behaviors as well as clarity in their stories through a time period deemed sufficient to weed out overt liars. It is sincerely hoped that the existence of this book will in the end reduce the success rate of the methods of dishonorable conduct described herein. It is further hoped that in reading this book support persons for victims and victims themselves will receive a desperately needed heads-up warning otherwise not clearly available. Readers as you proceed through these pages please use your imaginations to consider other similar directions, variations, methods and/or allegations a sociopath/sociopath type person can use to gain the same result(s). Names of individuals in all of this authors books are fictitious names. Real names are not revealed. By Danee Shade