Discover the astoundingly honest true story of Patric Gagne's life with sociopathy. This Sunday Times bestseller offers a thought-provoking perspective on a misunderstood condition.
Sociopath: A Memoir is the astoundingly honest true story of a life lived on the edge of the law, and a fascinating account of one woman's battle to understand her diagnosis. Moving and illuminating, it will challenge everything you thought you knew about sociopathy.
Empathy, guilt, shame, remorse, jealousy, even love-these are considered social emotions, she said. We're not born with them. They're learned.
From stabbing elementary school classmates with pencils to stealing car keys from fellow frat party guests and joyriding around her college town, to breaking and entering, even stalking, Patric Gagne doesn't hold back when it comes to describing the behaviour that, eventually, made her realize she is a sociopath. But her discovery forced her to question the official descriptions of sociopathy.
While her darker impulses warred against her attempts to settle into a settled, loving life with her partner, Patric began to wonder - was there a way for sociopaths to integrate happily into society? And could she find it before her own behaviour went a step too far?
Patric Gagne is a writer, former therapist, and advocate for people suffering from sociopathic, psychopathic, and anti-social personality disorders. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology with a dissertation that examined the relationship between sociopathy and anxiety. This research became the groundwork for her continued studies on sociopathic disorder, as well as the foundation for her memoir. She did her undergraduate work at UCLA and earned her masters and doctorate at the California Graduate Institute of The Chicago School.
