"From Dr. Martha Stout's influential work The Sociopath Next Door, we learned how to identify a sociopath. Now she tells us what to actually do about it. Using the many chilling and often heartbreaking emails and letters she has received over the years, Dr. Stout uncovers the psychology behind the sociopath's methods and provides concrete guidelines to help navigate these dangerous interactions"--

Who is the devil you know? Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband? Your sadistic high school gym teacher? Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings? The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own? In the pages of The Sociopath Next Door, you will realize that your ex was not just misunderstood. He’s a sociopath. And your boss, teacher, and colleague? They may be sociopaths too. We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people—one in twenty-five—has an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths more charming or interesting than the other people around them. They’re more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others’ suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win. The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we know—someone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted for—is a sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game. It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know.

When Texas Prison Scams Religion exposes corruption in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, especially in the abuse of religion. In many ways, this book is a literature review of 1,800-plus works that defends freedom of conscience in prison while exposing the unconstitutionality of the seminary program that “buys faith with favor” from prisoners. The state veritably ordains the prisoner a “Field Minister” that represents the offices of the Governor, TDCJ Director, and wardens throughout the prison. Therein, TDCJ lies about neutrality in a program all about Christian missions and lies again in falsely certifying elementary Bible students as counselors. Why is the director sponsoring psychopaths counseling psychopaths? In fact, TDCJ pays $314 million a year to UTMB for psychiatric care and receives not a single report of the care given, and worse, for UTMB generates no reports itself. The underbelly TDCJ’s executive culture of cover up is exposed. TDCJ has hired the lowest qualified of the applicant pool many times in the last 25 years and regularly destroys statistics on violence. TDCJ Dir. Collier led the prison to model Louisiana Warden Burl Cain, the most scandal-ridden in penal history according to a host of published news stories for 20 years. Therein, Collier led TDCJ to favor the smallest segment of religious society within Evangelical Dominionism. Texas has no business endorsing the truth of any religion over another. We close with a proposal that utilizes the 400,000,000 hours of officer contact over ten years as a definitive influence in contrast to a commissioner that spends less than 10 minutes on each decision. Maness has been lobbying Austin for 15 years to definitively access staff for his “100,000 Mothers’ 1% Certainty Parole Texas Constitutional Amendment,” which would revolutionize prison culture and save Texans millions of the dollars.

Who is the devil you know? Is it your lying, cheating ex-husband? Your sadistic high school gym teacher? Your boss who loves to humiliate people in meetings? The colleague who stole your idea and passed it off as her own? In the pages of The Sociopath Next Door, you will realize that your ex was not just misunderstood. He’s a sociopath. And your boss, teacher, and colleague? They may be sociopaths too. We are accustomed to think of sociopaths as violent criminals, but in The Sociopath Next Door, Harvard psychologist Martha Stout reveals that a shocking 4 percent of ordinary people—one in twenty-five—has an often undetected mental disorder, the chief symptom of which is that that person possesses no conscience. He or she has no ability whatsoever to feel shame, guilt, or remorse. One in twenty-five everyday Americans, therefore, is secretly a sociopath. They could be your colleague, your neighbor, even family. And they can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt. How do we recognize the remorseless? One of their chief characteristics is a kind of glow or charisma that makes sociopaths more charming or interesting than the other people around them. They’re more spontaneous, more intense, more complex, or even sexier than everyone else, making them tricky to identify and leaving us easily seduced. Fundamentally, sociopaths are different because they cannot love. Sociopaths learn early on to show sham emotion, but underneath they are indifferent to others’ suffering. They live to dominate and thrill to win. The fact is, we all almost certainly know at least one or more sociopaths already. Part of the urgency in reading The Sociopath Next Door is the moment when we suddenly recognize that someone we know—someone we worked for, or were involved with, or voted for—is a sociopath. But what do we do with that knowledge? To arm us against the sociopath, Dr. Stout teaches us to question authority, suspect flattery, and beware the pity play. Above all, she writes, when a sociopath is beckoning, do not join the game. It is the ruthless versus the rest of us, and The Sociopath Next Door will show you how to recognize and defeat the devil you know.

'Offers answers, healing and game-changing new insights' Jackson MacKenzie If you're in a relationship where you're always in the wrong, and constantly being criticised, the chances are you're with a sociopath - someone without a conscience, whose personality shows extreme antisocial tendencies. Now substantially updated with shocking new statistics and compelling case studies, this book is designed to help you identify the sociopath destroying your happiness, and it gives you the tools you need to protect yourself against these arch-manipulators. It will help you to see their behaviour for what it really is, understand the way they interact with others, and extract yourself from a destructive relationship - whatever its nature. You will regain control of your life for good, and become a survivor; a stronger person. More than just a practical guide, Everyday Sociopaths sends out a call to all of us, not only to identify and call out the sociopaths in our midst, but also to contribute to a culture where empathy exists as a prized virtue with the potential to transform society at every level.

Grandchildren are a wonderful blessing, and they need the best advice possible for their lives to turn out well. As a proud granddad, Dr. Chris Thurman passes along advice he has gleaned from his many years as a person of faith and psychologist. While written for his grandkids, this book can be helpful to all young people and the parents and grandparents helping them live a fuller and healthier life. Some of the biblically-solid advice offered in this book includes • Hang around good people • Think the right thoughts • Be angry, but don’t act the fool • Be content with little • Guard your heart • Let others toot your horn • Be grateful, even for your problems • Do the hard things first In Pop’s Advice, Dr. Chris Thurman guides our children and those of us raising them in a time-tested direction so their lives can be all God intended. The advice in this book can help not only our young people but those of us who are older trying to make our way through life. Regardless of age or situation, Pop’s Advice can guide all of us to live life in a way that goes beyond all we could have ever hoped for or imagined.

"At first, she tried to look beyond his bad habits - the nights he spent out drinking while she lay awake at home, the snarling insults that punctuated arguments, the tendency to throw things or punch walls. Tom's life had been tough, she reminded herself, and he was just out of prison after serving a sentence for armed robbery, a sentence cut short by good behavior. In time, he would get a job, simmer down, and settle into the life she imagined for them. She focused on his better side - his charm and promises, good looks, and other traits she thought she remembered from the first weeks of their relationship. But things gradually grew worse, and eventually no fond memories could counter the reality of the moment. One evening, she made dinner, set the table with her grandmother's dishes, and asked him to please stay home. He brushed aside her request, but she persisted. Finally, he upended the table in a fit of rage, littering the floor with pot roast, mashed potatoes, and fragments of china. Terrified, Tom's girlfriend managed to stand her ground, issuing a tearful ultimatum: Get help or lose her"--