Seduced by Pathology

Reviews the book, Psychopathy as Unified Theory of Crime by Matt DeLisi (see record 2016-54445-000). DeLisi posits, from the outset, that criminal defendants are “effectively the same person in terms of their life history” (p. 1). Allowing no sympathy, he asserts that psychopathic offenders generally believe their careers and arrest records are due to the faults of others. As a threshold for his notion that a unifying theory for psychopathy is possible, he provides a substantive review of historical viewpoints, from psychoanalytic theory to Cleckley and Hare. He also recognizes that psychopathic offenders may seem impervious to behavioral improvement. He provides treatment and intervention alternatives, including the results of a meta-analysis revealing 62% of psychopaths benefited from therapy and treatment. Approaching the topic of psychopathy through an array of theoretical and research approaches is highly relevant to training in the behavioral sciences, law, and numerous other disciplines. At this point in time, it is clear that psychopathy impairs establishing and maintaining positive social forces in relationships with family, friends, and others, as well as in global existence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)