Author(s): Martha Stout

Self Help

Who is the devil you know? This is an astonishing, chilling and appallingly useful guide to recognising conscienceless individuals. Everyone knows what a sociopath is. A sociopath is Hannibal Lecter - the cold, calculating monster who has no compunction, no sense that what he or she does is wrong. No conscience. An inhuman and often violent criminal. Wrong. Hannibal Lecter is a sociopath, for sure - but sociopaths are no more Hannibal Lecter than dogs are Spot. The lying, cheating ex. The boss who loves to humiliate in meetings. The colleague who steals ideas and passes them off as their own. A shocking four per cent of ordinary people have an undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. They can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. One of their chief characteristics is a charisma that makes them more charming or interesting to others - and hence tricky to identify. Sociopaths learn early on to sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others' suffering, they live to dominate and thrill to win. And statistically, every reader will know at least one, if not more. Dr. Martha Stout uncovers the hidden signs of the sociopath, teaching readers to question authority, suspect flattery and beware the pity play. Everyone has been sucked into the game at some point - now they have a way out.