Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us

Over the years, I have read heaps of books on true crime, I have even been reading the DSM-IV (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by psychiatrists all over the world) Was a hard one to track down but I found a second hand copy going on eBay that I payed an absolute fortune for. I have this morbid fascination with the real life horrors. The people that have no conscience, the people that can kill their children, harm their animals or even cheat on their partners repeatedly as if they are just going out for a burger. This book is a brilliant study and explanation of psychopaths or otherwise known as sociopaths, those that cannot feel anything for others. No remorse, no empathy, no love. They are physically and mentally incapable of it and they walk among us each and every day. This book goes into detail about these people, their symptoms and their characteristics so you may be able to spot one and miss betting conned by them. This book had me shaking! Because its REAL! I can read your crazy killers, your inbred monsters, even your zombies but throw a true story in my face and I really see the horror. The horror that someone else experienced and that someone right now is experiencing as I write this review. The most horrible monster on the planet is us humans. How we treat each other, our planet, our animals and how egotistical and money hungry we really are. And this book covers a certain type of these people that fill up at least one quarter of the prison society. Psychopaths. The book has some unbelievable true accounts (yes, well aware of the use of language there in that paradox) as they honestly would be unbelievable if not coming from someone who has been in this industry for the last few decades. This man helped invent the test that determines if you have a psychopath on your hands or not. Beginning his career in British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, he started in prisons. He then moved up the chain and became a leader in the field. Also known as sociopaths, as many believe that social factors create these emotionally void people, he writes a easy to follow, filled with studies and interviews book on the subject. Some terrifying accounts I read were that of prisoners that tampered with his car, making it so these things would gradually give out with every intention to kill the driver inside at the time. Luckily, they didn't. The book has the mothers that kill their children and their careless words after the incident that shows you that they couldn't care less. Of how people manipulate and lie, even when caught out, they continue to lie or worse still, deny the lie ever came out of them. They don't care if they are busted, they don't care if they are put away and they don't care if they are stealing your grandfather's only present to you before he died. They simply only care about their next rush, their next free ticket, their next manipulation. They don't make friends, they make acquaintances to use up and spit out like pawns. Because they don't know how to get attached to anyone. The book is filled with the bastard next door, the men that feed of lonely hearts, how they get into your home, your mind, how they suck people dry and how the innocent people are often not believed at all as these people seem to delightful, so normal, so wonderful to be around. They are so good at playing the part that they are quite often not even noticed until it is too late and they have already stung you and fled the scene. Fraud artists, criminals, rapists, animal and child abusers, murderers, and even arsonists may fall into the category, with testing and diagnosis, the scariest thing about all this, is that you cannot do anything about it but just stay away from them. The law often sets them free and the youngest of them, the children, are often protected by parents, only to grow into stronger, more dangerous psychopaths that are set free into society to burn more bridges and break more hearts. The book does its best to help warn you what to look out for but at the same time, it explains how good these people are at pretending they are something they are not so that even himself has been fooled by one before! A fascinating read about a certain group of people that are more common and more in your life than you think. They may not be as drastic as murderers or child abusers but they are there, waiting for their opportunity to have some fun, get a fill of entertainment, use someone up or even score a few bucks to make their lives easier. I loved the book and although the later chapters weren't as interesting as it focused more on origins and causes which are so hard to determine, I still feel better knowing that sometimes it isn't just me when I really feel that someone is emotionally retarded. They very well may be someone that is incapable of it and sadly, their numbers are rising. Awesome book, check it out if you love true crime and psychology. I cannot recommend it enough.

Without Conscience - Eye-opening book for victims of psychopaths Review by Avraham Azrieli (author of The Mormon Candidate and other novels) For lovers of horror films and novels, the image of a psychopath is immortally attached to blood, gore, rape and depravity. But world-leading psychopathy expert Robert D. Hare, PhD, serves us with a chilling yet fascinating book about psychopaths who walk among us every day. They might not be eating their victims' flesh, but are nonetheless actively ruining the lives of those whose misfortune is to be family members, business associates, or random targets of a psychopath's financial, emotional, or sexual abuse. "Without Conscience" is based on decades of research, sharing with the readers the concepts, principles, and checklists used by mental-health professionals in diagnosing psychopaths. But rather than a dry, scholarly book, this is an exciting page-turner, filled with breathtaking examples of real patients, quoting their coldblooded words as they described truly shocking actions - without remorse! The point about psychopaths is: They're not really 'haters' or passionate evil mongers. As opposed to other harmful or troubled individuals, psychopaths are distinguished because they have feelings only for themselves. Their view of the world is dominated by total egotism, lack of remorse, blindness to others' feelings, denial of personal responsibility, disregard to society 'rules,' and pathological lying to justify bad acts or shift responsibility to others, often to the victims themselves. Interesting yet unnerving is the fact that psychopaths are often charming and intelligent. They know all the right things to say, but it's all part of a clever puzzle, forming a mask of normalcy. In fact, they don't feel love or hate as normal people do. Psychopaths see others only as useful possessions, as sources of goods and services -- money, home, food, social status, sex, etc. Because they flaunt the rules, they can be very exciting partners for a while, until reality hits and the costs of being with the psychopath becomes unbearable. This one-dimensional perspective psychopaths have on the surrounding world--egocentric, caring only for 'Number One'---is the reason psychopaths can cause so much agony to family and other victims, but feel no regrets or guilt. Psychopaths actually don't feel empathy for others. They don't really 'see' other peoples' pain, even though they often make a credible show of deep regrets and tearful apologies in order to regain what they need from others. While this is not a self-help book, it provides life-saving information for anyone victimized by a ruthless charmer. Hare provides checklists for diagnosis by mental health professional, who should be consulted and engaged for proper diagnosis. But for the layperson, the first indication that you might be dealing with psychopathy (and not other anti-social behavior) is brazen lying. Psychopaths often say things that are clearly untrue or self-contradictory, but they speak with total conviction and appear to really believe in the lies they utter. This total conviction causes victims to hesitate about confronting the lies because, ironically, the victims are usually normal and capable of empathy, which means they don't want to hurt a person's feelings by accusing him of lying. In addition, normal people seek to avoid conflict. Ironically, with psychopaths, such delays inevitably lead to worse conflicts. At any event, when the behavior become unbearably egregious and the lies are called on, the psychopath will usually change the subject shamelessly, come up with other lies, or, if pushed into a corner, become irate or violent. While many psychopaths victimize others financially or criminally, the condition is especially relevant in dealing with domestic abuse. If a wife/husband/child abuser is a psychopath, it means that this person is not treatable and will not change, unlike a person who's driven to abusive behavior by upbringing, culture, drugs/alcohol, or mental illness. This distinction--whether there's any hope of real, positive, and lasting change of behavior--is obviously the key factor in deciding how to resolve such heartbreaking situations. I recommend Robert D. Hare's book "Without Conscience" for anyone interested in human psychology--and particularly for anyone dealing with an abusive relationship. It's an easy read, a captivating book, rich with true stories of real-life patients.

Little has been published for lay people regarding the sociopath/psychopath in the general population, and for most of us the word "psychopath" denotes only the most brutal of criminals: fascinating in a macabre way, titillating, but not someone we're likely to actually meet. And because psychopathy is considered by professionals to be untreatable, little research or publication for the specialist is being done. Robert Hare has been working for several decades to help the public, the psychiatric profession, and the judicial system recognize the truth about psychopaths: they are all around us, millions in the U.S. alone. They aren't all in prison or even likely to be, because many satisfy their need for manipulation and control in ways which fly under the legal radar, although the havoc they cause in the lives of those they target can be devastating. The parents of child psychopaths face a particular hell of guilt and lack of resources. Hare is the author of the Psychopathy Checklist, now used internationally to help predict criminal recidivism and as an educational tool for prison officials, parole boards, courts, and psychiatric professionals. While most of Hare's work has been with prison inmates, he is clear that all non-psychopaths are at risk and that most of us will have dealings with one sometime during our lives. So while most of his examples concern those who have been convicted, the information is useful to anyone who may run across someone like this. Hare is clear that a real diagnosis must be done with extensive interviews and reviews of records, but at the same time the general public must have some guidelines of what to look for and how to protect themselves. He discusses the following list of key symptoms, at the same time warning that many non-psychopaths have some of these traits and that it is the total group of symptoms (the syndrome) which guides the diagnosis: Glib and superficial Egocentric and grandiose Lack of remorse or guilt Lack of empathy Deceitful and manipulative Shallow emotions Impulsive Poor behavior controls Need for excitement Lack of responsibility Early behavior controls Adult antisocial behavior The book is almost 20 years old now, but little else is available of this caliber, and further information is available at Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy, a non-profit organization Hare helped found ([...]). If you are dealing with or have survived someone you think might be a psychopath, even a child, this book is a must-read.

This book is the first genuine look at something deeper than just labeling a man you don't like for moral reasons a "psychopath". Dr. Hare, as I often point is not just the tip of the spear when referencing studies on psychopathic personality disorder, he's pretty much the blueprint for the entire weapon. While Dr. Cleckley may have started the ball rolling many years ago with "Mask of Sanity", he, like so many who are the first to try and describe something new and unknown to them, didn't really do the best job. His book is marred with anecdotes and personal assertions about the type of creature he generalized in his characterization of a "psychopath" based off of one man if I remember correctly. Dr. Hare has done so much more, to star with he developed the PCL-R which is used around the world to assess the level of psychopathy someone possesses and from inmates to politicians this tool has been proven of value. He has studied the criminal aspects of the personality thoroughly as this book entails, and even though dated the information is still very relevant which can be seen in subsequent works where he has focused more on "successful psychopath's" who are filling roles as lawyers, doctors, accountants, teachers and even therapists. What you need to be aware of when reading this, or any other book about psychopathy is that much like your first semester in a biology or anatomy and physiology class, you'll start diagnosing everything around you as X or Y until you've managed to wrap your brain around the material and it's implications. The problem here is that there is no teacher for you to defer your questions to, you must answer them yourself through either filling in the blanks as best you can with your imagination, or turning to google. Neither of which is good practice with this kind of material. So don't be so quick to start calling people around you psychopaths after getting half way through. As Hare points out, all sorts of people can be cold, callous, parasitic, manipulative and violent, "evil" is not endemic to the psychopathic personality; they're self serving folk, but many never commit a major or serious crime. I digress, this is the first book anyone should read on the subject. I highly suggest "Snakes in Suites" afterwards, accompanied by Dr. Scott Peck's engaging page turner "People of the lie". Between these three you will develop a sincere appreciation for the varied and subtle methods of predatory and manipulative people and it will be a very good understanding given that many who will read these books are not students of criminal psychology or the behavioral sciences in general; but where instead drawn here by any number of other accessory stimuli from TV to personal experience. Dr. Hare's stories provided in this book are all about actual psychopaths, you will not find the discrepancies present in other works on the topic such as "the sociopath next door" where the Author takes no issue with simply applying the mantle of socio/psychopath to all sorts of individuals, some of whom she's never even met by her own admission. A distasteful practice in and of itself, akin to labeling someone a racist just because you heard a story from some guy about another guy he used to work with who said he didn't really want his daughter dating black guys. In the field of psychology we do not look at issues like this through the black and white filter so many lay-folk do. First off, how do we know the story is true, second, how do we know this comment wasn't coerced out of the man by the person in question, third in what context was the comment uttered... You get the point. Dr. Hare sticks with this and gives you highly detailed notes on his encounters. Information you can use. I think my favorite part, because it shows just how skilled the intelligent psychopath is has to be where Dr. Hare admits even he himself was swindled by one of these con-men, even after spending a night with the man and talking over drinks, yet still he he never saw it coming. The psychopath is far more often NOT the serial killer, the mass murderer, the rapist, the pedophile, they are not your lazy brother-in-law that won't get a job... What they are, generally speaking, are men and women who have no conscience, no empathy, no moral compass and they maneuver through life using any means available and necessary to achieve comfort and power in spite of the hard work us honest folk put into getting there. They are the boyfriend from your childhood that really creeped you out when he said "if you ever leave I'll kill your parents and burn you alive" then laughed about it, they're the politician you see on TV caught using taxpayer money for drugs and prostitutes, the high powered criminal defense attorney that defends genuinely bad people with a lustrous zeal, because it's the thrill that gets him off. They're also that soldier with 25 confirmed kills that "bravely" stood his ground when his comrades fled an incoming gang of troops, you know, the guy with the medals we call a war hero but you see something dangerous in his eyes... They're everywhere, they're not aliens, they're not monsters, they're apes like the rest of us on the outside, but research shows neurologically they just don't have that "human factor" that keeps the rest of us in line. I don't always write research papers on psychopaths, but when I do, I use a lot of citations from this particular book. Stay vigilant my friends. :) Now, my only issue with the Kindle version is that it is steeped with typos, which drive me nuts because I'm a pedantic personality and small things derail my reading rhythm. That aside, I cannot suggest this book highly enough.

A pioneering work! A must read book for anyone studying deviant behavior!

Dr. Hare is THE founder of the dark triad, and his influence on psychopathy and other dark personality traits in the subclinical field of psychology is unparalleled. He is the reason why UBC is leading in dark personality trait research; he started it before it became cool. Which is why... you must read this if youre interested in personality psychology (which is the nucleus of my pursuits), criminal/forensic psychology, dating (especially as a woman!), business (to seek early signs of the American Psycho archetypal character), serial killers, psychiatry (his constructs have a connection to antisocial personality disorder, particularly secondary!), the etiology of this personality type, and if you want surgically constructed connections to people with the hope of humanity but are nevertheless prepared with a contingency of conquering the unemotional parasitic-reptilian humans that although being 1-4% of the population, WILL annihilate it down to the ground! This was my *take-everywhere-and-read-whenever-you-have-5-minutes-to-waste-rather-than-doomscrolling-on-Insta* book (which is also why it took so long to finish lol)! It has great, short bits of info and doesnt need an hour of time to go through a chapter; the information is very concise and in bite-sized slices! I cant recommend this book enough, it inspired me to look into the forensic psychology field more intensely, rather than the social and clinical side (which are still awesome!).

For anyone who grew up in a household with a disruptive, loveless, tormenting family member, this book may be of comfort to you. If you work around such people, the same. It isn't complicated. It is easy to read. It is a gift to those whose lives were, or are being torn apart by cruel and unreasonable people. This book makes it clear they do exist and they affect people in all walks of life.

There are moments when Dr. Robert Hare's Without Conscience blisters with insight. Unfortunately, there are also several instances in which he seems to beg for attention and cater to public fascination for villainy. Hare draws heavily on Hervey Cleckley's work (most notably from his book The Mask of Sanity) to develop a Psychopathy Checklist which he uses to diagnose the disorder. He spends the vast majority of the book describing the components of his Checklist and offering examples from his own interviews as well as more famous cases. The information provided in these chapters is informative and useful, but the descriptions of the behavior of psychopaths aren't particularly innovative, since by Hare's own admission, Cleckley described the same behaviors in his patients fifty years earlier. Hare offers more value with his descriptions of the latest research on how psychopaths' brains actually function, and how they think and use language. He weighs the merits and shortcomings of the latest theories on the origins and development of psychopathy, and offers the intriguing hypothesis that individuals born with the makeup of a psychopath will not change, although the quality of their upbringing may affect whether their disorders express themselves through violence and sexual deviance or less physically harmful behavior such as deception or fraud. He also proposes further research into the treatment of this disorder, rightly observing that such interventions will likely not help psychopaths develop empathy, though they may lead them to realize and assume responsibility for the destructiveness of their behavior. However, despite Hare's assertion that the vast majority of psychopaths are not violent serial offenders, Without Conscience is littered with descriptions of killers like John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy. Even though these criminals may exemplify some of the traits of psychopaths, by Hare's own admission, he never interviewed them himself or diagnosed them with the disorder. At times it seems Hare is writing merely to maintain the attention of those readers who picked up his book in an airport after following a serial killer manhunt on the news. At one point, he even finishes a story about a psychopath who served a short prison sentence with the warning "he may now be in your community." All in all, Without Conscience offers a solid introduction into the basics of the psychopathic disorder. Readers who would prefer a more scholarly treatment should look elsewhere, but this book is short, simplified and entertaining enough to capture the interest of most readers unfamiliar with the subject.