Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

This was so interesting hearing first had from Patric and her journey of her life as a diagnosed sociopath. She recognize something was different about herself from others since she was a young child. Her memoir follows her journey as she begins to understand her diagnosis and learns to adapt. This is a very interesting read and I highly recommend it.

Absolutely fascinating personal history. Finally a viewpoint from a sociopath who isn’t villainous! Intriguing first person perspective.

Finished this one today. It’s a memoir of Patric, a diagnosed (mostly self-diagnosed) sociopath, who wants to figure out how to help herself and others like her.

I thought this was an interesting memoir. I found her thoughts about herself fascinating. Although - I’m pretty sure one of the reasons she got away with all of her criminal activity is because she’s connected to the music industry somehow. Multiple times she discussed stalking people and breaking into homes. She tells a story about stealing a notepad from the playboy mansion, her best friend is the lead singer in a band that had a residency at the Roxy, and a famous musician was in love with her.

I did try looking her up online and she has very minimal information available about her. I am curious to know the other sides of these stories, but that’s how it goes with memoirs! Ultimately, an interesting read but isn’t a must-read for me.

Thanks NetGalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, what a book! It's rare to find a book written by a sociopath who is honest and open about her diagnosis and experiences. It's a fascinating look at sociopathy from an "insider".
I think it's amazing how well she has researched her diagnosis and that she became a therapist to help others.

This book fascinated me from the very start. Patric's descriptions of her early symptoms, coping with the symptoms, and her family dynamic drew me in from the very beginning.

By the time she had established she was different and concealing it and needing a code to guide her, felt like I was reading a real-Life account of what Jeff Lindsay's "Dexter" series.

I was most drawn in hearing her talk about the different kinds of exposure treatments she did, how they work, and why she did them. Her perspective as a doctor and patient made it all sound more accessible and rational than other accounts from one side or the other.

This was a roller coaster ride of a memoir. The author is so brave for her honest sharing of what her life has been thus far. I admire her for making such strides not only for herself, but for others like her. An excellent read, it had me rooting for her the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this eARC. Patric Gagne's memoir is such an intensely compelling read. For anyone who is a fan of true crime, this is the perfect companion to understanding the deeper psychological implications of sociopathy and its common misconceptions. While we often equate sociopathy with serial killers, Patric discusses her experience with her gradual realization that the apathy she feels is not merely a passing moment, not merely depression or anxiety, but something more insidious. To see Patric's journey from "troubled" adolescent to healthy adult is encouraging for anyone who experiences mental illness and her seamless blend of psychological concepts and vivid storytelling makes this book so readable.

This book is utterly fascinating. The author did such an amazing job of bringing the reader into her world. It was so unique and interesting that I had a hard time putting it down. She mixed her personal story with a bit of psychological research and a few celebrities thrown in thanks to her career as a talent manager. (I definitely think “Max” is John Mayer.)

I think people who enjoy reading about other people’s experiences will really enjoy this one.

What an interesting read - I found this really fascinating and loved reading about not only her life, but her research as well. This was a great book for understanding the overall concept of sociopath.

Sociopath by Patric Gagne is one of the most powerful memoirs I’ve read this year. A well organized and thoughtful review of her life and how it led her to research and advocacy for one of the most feared and under researched diagnoses in (and subsequently removed) in the world. Estimated to affect 1 in 20, they make up roughly 5% of the population and left to manage their destructive impulses on their own with little hope for help, the diagnosis seems hopeless, but Dr. Patric Gagne, a diagnosed sociopath, does not think so. She knew she was different as far back as she could remember, but she never had a name for why she had a tough time managing the pressure in her brain. She found from an early age that engaging in bad behaviors like stealing, breaking into empty houses, lying, and so on would keep the pressure at bay. If she let the pressure build to boiling point, it became nearly impossible to maintain self control over her destructive dark side. Thus from an early age, in order to safely remain in society, she prescribed herself routine acts of what she labeled as “harmless” bad behavior to keep her more darker impulses under control.

This book is not necessarily what I would call an easy read, and Dr. Patric Gagne has not set out to paint herself as some kind of hero of the darkness either. She does not shy away from some of her more unsettling losses of control which is disturbing to read in such a matter of fact way. On the other side of the token, some of the ways she was misunderstood and lacked support growing up were also hard to read. Even as a sociopath, a child needs her parents. And there were several relations that were heartbreaking to read - she does not paint her parents as villains of her narrative, she paints them as more or less “normal” parents who didn’t know what to do or how to support her the way she needed, and unfortunately, they occasionally blew up and acted out leading her ultimately at 14 to believe she had no one in the world she could truly connect to.

She was formally diagnosed in college which set her on a trajectory to know everything she could about the research surrounding sociopath pathology and the results were not promising— the fear of the sociopath has led to a large gap in the research for how to support them which is to the detriment of both the sociopath and the society at large. Dr. Gagne seeks to close that gap and show others like her through her words that all hope is not lost, help and support are more available now than they once were. And to society at large, she seeks to paint herself not as a tragic hero or an evil villain, but as a whole person, nuanced and multifaceted. She doesn’t seek to justify her bad behavior, but she does not shy away from them either. Her passion for giving hope to the hopeless of the sociopathic population displays so clearly that a sociopath can indeed feel the learned emotion empathy - a marvel once believed impossible.

“‘People hate sociopaths for not having empathy and compassion. . . But who has empathy and compassion for them?’ Sociopaths were villainized for failing to exhibit the very emotion they were denied. ‘How can anyone be expected to master a learned emotion they never get to experience for themselves?’”

I’d like to thank Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book to read. This was really interesting and not something I would gravitate for but I would give this a 4/5, I will absolutely be looking into adding this to my collection.

This book was not what I expected from the title. The picture of the adorable girl on the cover and the title , I assumed it would be a story of a cute girl that grew up to destroy lives in numerous ways.
Told from her perspective, instead of an outsider’s viewpoint of sociopath personality.
Yes, as a sociopath, author struggles with feeling empathy.
Some of her behaviors as a child, adolescent were very hard to understand.
A compassionate parent and acceptance of self helped author to have a happy ending

I received a free copy of, Sociopath, by Patric Gagne, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Patric Gagne is a sociopath, she has been formally diagnosed, but is still able to live a productive life. This is a very interesting book on a psychological condition nobody really talks about. I did not care for the swearing though.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

This was an intriguing and inspiring autobiographical story of Gagne's experience with being diagnosed with such a rare mental illness.

From childhood, adulthood and beyond, it was great to hear from their perspective and advancing in the field of psychology, with the help of their background.

Patric Gagne’s memoir is a fierce, heartfelt exploration of her life as a sociopath. She takes her time explaining her vilified and misunderstood diagnosis, walking the reader through the ways it impacted her as a child and all the way into adulthood. She describes each season of her life through the way her sociopathy impacted it, giving readers a multifaceted look at sociopathic apathy and stress. Her explanations of the disorder can be a bit repetitive, but I think it’s necessary to help readers understand sociopathy better. Patric’s story is fascinating and I’m glad she chose to write and publish it. I learned a lot and it gave me great empathy for people who live with this diagnosis.

I’d like to thank Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Wow! This was so interesting hearing first had from Patric and her journey and curiosity around sociopaths. When she realized the characteristics of the mental health disorder resonated with her, she opted to further expand her knowledge around the topic and how it affects her. Watching her understanding of the situation grow and how to find the balance was very eye opening. For instance rather than breaking and entering, she got some satisfaction of sitting outside and watching a person or home rather than actually doing something illegal. Overall so interesting, highly recommend!

This is a fascinating read that stretches the bounds of what most people know about sociopathy. While the word has a negative connotation that many associate with evil, Gagne clarifies that it's really about lack of feeling, particularly in situations where people experience heightened emotions. Society has ostracized those who don't have "normal" responses to situations and stimuli, but really sociopaths just have different reactions than the majority of the population. Different does not need to be synonymous with "bad."

Gagne couldn't find someone who could treat her disorder, so she became a therapist herself, making it her life's work to ingest everything there was to know about sociopathy. Where the literature didn't exist, she experimented herself. No doubt this book will help so many people feel seen, validating that they are not a bad person just because they don't react to situations like everyone else.

Along the way, Gagne finds love with someone who truly sees her--who has always seen her, exactly as she is. The enduring feeling of the book is one of hope--that those who are unfairly maligned can lead a full life, overflowing with love and yes, feeling.

A candid and unflinching memoir of what it’s like to grow up as a sociopath, the author pulls no punches as she invites readers into her mind and perspective. Anyone who has had a sociopath/psychopath in their life will find much of what she shares disconcerting, as she often reveals that things were almost always much, much more dangerous than her family and friends ever imagined. Her penchant for blaming others and expecting the world to adapt to her was a surprising revelation. Overall, an important book for awareness.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review.

Absolutely fantastic book! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

Five stars. Right away I was inside the mind of Patric as a young child going to school, loving her Mom and baby sister and feeling she was different. It was fascinating to read her descriptions of what she was experiencing as a young girl and the urges she had to try and quiet her mind. Well done. Honest, smart, and intriguing to learn Patric’s story about being a sociopath.