Sociopath - Patric Gagne

 

I've read dozens of memoirs over the last few years, but seldom has one surprised me quite as much as Patric Gagne's Sociopath. I initially wanted to read Sociopath because of my confusion (and as it turns out, my misunderstanding) of the difference between the terms "sociopath" and "psychopath." I had come to believe that the difference between the two was based on criminal activity - psychopaths were criminals, sociopaths were just manipulative jerks. Patric Gagne has opened my eyes regarding sociopathy by first pointing out that many mental health professionals themselves don't seem to understand the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath a whole lot better than I understood it before reading Sociopath. And that's the problem.

Patric Gagne is a sociopath. She lives the life of a sociopath so she knows what she is talking about. But Gagne does not draw only from her personal experiences to reach the conclusions that she reaches about what sociopathy really is. While in college, she tried to learn more about why she was so different from all of her fellow students only to be frustrated by how little information she could find about sociopathy in the university library. Frustrated as she may have been, Gagne was so determined to learn why she is the way she is that she ultimately earned a PhD in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and became a therapist. Her mission is to help write an expanded definition of sociopathy that likens the condition to a learning disability; in this case, an inability to learn or absorb most of the spectrum of human emotion. By eliminating the negative connotation of the term, Gagne hopes that the rest of us will understand that sociopaths are not evil people, that the disorder they were born with is a treatable one. Just as importantly, she wants to give hope to others struggling to control their own antisocial behavioral compulsions. 

You only have to read the "Introduction" to Sociopath to know that you have something special in your hands. In the very first sentence, Gagne tells you that she is a sociopath. And within the book's first half-page, what she tells you about herself and other sociopaths is enough to make you more than a little bit nervous about being around people like her. But that's the point. You already are around people like the ones she describes because they are doctors, neighbors, lawyers, co-workers, school teachers, etc. They are everywhere.

If you want to learn why they behave the way they do (especially, I think,  if you've ever worked with or for a sociopath), this is a book you need to read. If you want to learn what it feels like to live the daily struggle of being a sociopath in a world in which everyone "gets it" but you, this is a book you need to read. But most of all, if you are a sociopath wanting to know more about yourself and the disability you were born with, Sociopath is definitely the book for you.

(Look for Sociopath on April 2, 2024.)