Resources

Essential Reading on Psychopaths and Sociopaths

These books are the definitive go to resources on spotting, understanding and recovering from psychopathic abuse, from both the lay person and clinical perspectives.

NB. Book links on this page are affiliate links.

Psychopath Free

Jackson MacKenzie’s Psychopath Free is the undisputed lay person’s resource for recovering from psychopathic abuse in their lives. People often describe reading this book as an eerie experience as it so accurately describes the day to day tactics psychopaths use to manipulate their victims. This book will especially help victims of psychopaths in intimate/romantic relationships.

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Whole Again – Healing Your Heart and Rediscovering Your True Self

 

Jackson MacKenzie’s Whole Again is a follow up book to Psychopath Free and details how to fully heal from the abuse psychopaths cause and address the numbness and emptiness that victims can often feel for months and even years after the psychopath exits their lives. If Psychopath Free brilliantly describes the problem, this sequel describes the solution to the damage psychopaths cause in the lives of others.

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The Empathy Trap – Understanding Antisocial Personalities


 Tim and Jane McGregor’s The Empathy Trap is another excellent resource on psychopaths and sociopaths and the damage they cause. In particular this book is brilliant at describing how sociopaths systematically manipulate others to try and turn them against their chosen target, and how many weak people unfortunately often go along with this game they play. Their description of the Sociopath-Empath-Apath Triad will be especially useful to victims of psychopathic abuse.

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Without Conscience – The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us

Without Conscience is a superb resource written by lifelong psychopathy researcher Dr Robert Hare on the psychopaths that live amongst us. This book is brilliant at dispelling the myth that the only psychopaths are the serial killers we see in the news and portrayed in movies. Without Conscience goes into the the more subtle ways psychopaths blend into society and use their superficial charm to manipulate others. Essential reading from the world’s foremost expert on psychopathy.

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Snakes in Suits – When Psychopaths Go To Work

Snakes in Suits – Psychopathy expert Robert Hare and organizational expert Paul Babiak team together in this excellent book on psychopaths in the workplace. In it they do into detail on the common behaviour patterns of psychopaths in a work environment and how to spot and defend against psychopaths in this setting. There is an ongoing bitesize chronological story at the end of each chapter that perfectly describes how a psychopath manipulates in the workplace. Highly recommended reading.

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The Mask of Sanity is a classic text on psychopathy by former psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley, where he goes into great detail about the “mask” that toxic psychopaths wear. Cleckley details how this mask conceals a chaotic inner world devoid of real emotion and empathy and chronically destructive towards the self and others. A “mask” of superficial charm is needed to conceal these traits from others, though eventually and with enough time they will eventually leak out and be spotted. 

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New (and crucial) for 2022 – The Gaslighting Recovery Workbook by Amy Marlow MaCoy is a crucial resource for identifying and recovering from the toxic effects of gaslighting (insecurity, self doubt, low self esteem, boundary issues etc). If these issues are not resolved after a toxic relationship, then you are primed to keep repeating the same pattern over and over again in the future, so this is an essential recovery resource.

New for 2023 – Richard Grannon’s A Cult Of One – Recovery From Narcissistic Abuse is an excellent new addition to the recovery literature, weaving his own personal account of abuse into a strong forward-focused plan for recovering from toxic abuse and focusing more on the future and one’s own growth than on the past. I’ve listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it. 

Other Books on Psychopathy and Evil

Books on Narcissism, Toxic Parenting and Trauma in the Body

Books on Setting Boundaries

Psychopathy, The Crowd & Politics

Videos on Psychopathy, Sociopathy and Personality Disorders

Ramani Durvasula 1

 

Ramani Durvasula 2

 

Stefan Verstappen on Psychopaths (Gnostic Media)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_C_mytyKYw

 

Fish Head Documentary on Psychopaths – see also our review

 

Anthony Johnson – Surviving a Female Psychopath

 

British Documentary on Psychopaths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsmRZNiE654

 

Am I a Psychopath? Featuring Narcissism Expert Sam Vaknin

 

Hatman Strikes Back on Psychopathy – very informative even if you are not into boxing

 

Dr Tim McGregor on his book The Empathy Trap