Customer Reviews

The Psychopathic Mind: Origins, Dynamics, and Treatment

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J. Reid Meloy's book provides a fascinating insight into the mind of the psychopath and is perhaps one of the most comprehension books on psychopathy since Hervey Cleckley's masterpiece, "The Mask of Sanity". This book is divided into four sections that discuss origins and previous theories, the psychopath's experience of emotion, the importance of aggression in the psychopathic mind, and treatment plans for psychopathy. While the first two sections on previous theories and psychopathic emotion are difficult to read because of the technical vocabulary terms, they still provide key information concerning the creation and signiture traits of a psychopathic individual. The reading becomes easier once Meloy starts to discuss certain case studies and the treatments he has used and studyied. The increased readibility does not mean that this book loses value for a clinician. On the contrary, I believe that this is a book that all individuals who are interested in understanding and identifying the psychopath, clinicians and lay persons alike, should read. Meloy's book is mainly from a forensic perspective and therefore almost all of his case studies involve criminal psychopaths. One important distinction not made clear in this book is that not all psychopaths are criminals. However, this distinction is not severely detrimental to the quality of the book, and it is still an excellent and very comprehensive source on this disturbing, yet interesting mental disorder.

This book is absolutely amazing. I've read it twice and both times I was unable to put it down. I've had the pleasure of meeting Dr Meloy and find him articulate, knowledgeable, and engaging. He is one of the true professionals within the forensic psych community. His work is extremely accurate and his study in child psychopathy is fascinating. I'm looking forward to all his future writings as I'm sure they will be just as interesting and informative as this one.

This product came WELL in advance of when it was scheduled to come and was in the condition that it said it would be :)