The Psychopath Effect

Trade Paperback

Do you ever look at the megalomaniacs who rule the world, the CEOs with their casual cruelty, and wonder if they ever see the harm they do? Do you even look closer, at the people you love, and question how someone supposed to care for you can be so cold?

We all know what psychopathy is. Or, at least, we think we do. For decades, we have looked at psychopaths as something other: the monster, the bogeyman. But psychopaths don't just exist on our screens, they exist in our communities, within our offices, our social circles and, sometimes, within our very own families. Our understanding of psychopathy has long been flawed, so we are missing what is right in front of us.

The Psychopath Effect is the story of those psychopaths - the ones who are searingly antagonistic yet still have a job, who approach empathy as an optional extra, yet still have a family. Those whose temper rests on the most sensitive of hair triggers, yet who still have friends. It is about who they are and, more importantly, who we become when they are around. Their fearlessness, antagonism and lack of constraint affect our ability to think, our social position, our understanding of who we are - and of the world around us.

In this ground-breaking new book from expert psychologist Dr Emma Kavanagh, the psychopath effect is finally exposed. Through case studies and new research, we track the psychopath as a stranger, moving closer through acquaintanceship, meeting them as colleagues, all the way up to being the partner and child of a psychopath.

'Psychopathy only works if the environment allows it. And we are the environment.'