Best book to learn about psychopaths.

melatonin

Jedi Master
Me and my dad are unfortunately victims of my mother who was a psychopath. (Now dead) She abused me and controlled him.
Her family are psychopaths too. (All females)

What book would you recommend to help us learn as much as possible about psychopaths in order that we can protect ourselves aswell as possible?

Many thanks, Melatonin.
 
The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, would be a good one to start with.

From the back cover:

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.
 
Thanks guys, appreciated.

It really is a mind mosh.....and ive been conditioned to it since birth. So now I seem to attract them....and im not able to spot them.
 
I would recommend 'In sheep's clothing' as well - there's a thread here: https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,8292.msg59312.html

It doesn't deal with psychopathy specifically, but with covert aggressive behavior, which is a hallmark of the psychopath as well. It's a good primer I think, especially because it gives good advice on how to spot such behavior and deal with it. It's short as well.
 
Puzzling People is fairly decent too. It can be a bit repetitive but if this is your first go at sinking your teeth into psychopathy research a little repetition isn't a bad thing.

You should take a look at Nasty Women as well.

There is also this thread on how to spot a dangerous woman.
 
"Without Conscience" by Robert Hare is another good one to start with. Sandra Brown's book "Women Who Love Psychopaths" is another. The SOTT editors interviewed Sandra back in 2013. The broadcast and transcript are available on SOTT.

If you or your father want to go even further, there's a list of books on the Recommended Books: List and Guide thread about Psychpathy. Happy reading :)

5. Psychopathy

Defense Against the Psychopath: A Brief Introduction to Human Predators5.1 - Stefan H. Verstappen

The Sociopath Next Door - Martha Stout

Women Who Love Psychopaths: Inside the Relationships of Inevitable Harm5.2 - Sandra Brown

Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work - Robert Hare and Paul Babiak

Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us - Robert Hare

The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt To Clarify Some Issues About The So-Called Psychopathic Personality5.3 - Hervey Cleckley (This one is available as a PDF on Cassiopaea.org here.)

Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes5.4 - Andrzej Lobaczewski

The Authoritarians5.5 - Bob Altemeyer (Bob Altemeyer's book is also available on PDF through the University of Manitoba here.)

The Paranoia Switch: How Terror Rewires Our Brains and Reshapes Our Behavior--and How We Can Reclaim Our Courage5.6 - Martha Stout
 
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