An engrossing memoir and glimpse into the complexities and nuances of sociopathy told via one woman’s story. The writing is compelling - darkly humorous, tense, and moving. It was interesting to see Patric’s view of the world and to observe how others in her orbit react to and engage with her once they know she is a sociopath.

Really thought-provoking - I was surprised to learn how under-researched sociopathy is and admire Patric’s quest to conduct more research and offer a fuller and more empathetic picture of it. Recommended to anyone looking to learn more about sociopathy (or maybe unlearn everything you think you know about sociopathy).

Thank you very much to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

I really liked reading this book. I was quite absorbed by it. I (ironically?) feel like I have more empathy now towards sociopaths and a better understanding of them. I think the author says some very smart, insightful things in this memoir. I think a lot of people should read it, but especially people who think (or know) that they're sociopaths as well, and the family of people who are. And if you're involved in psychiatry/psychology at all, you definitely should be reading it.

3.5. This is a really hard one to rate. I don’t know where to begin. I hated being in Patric’s mind. It was relentless and restless. Her voice is unrelentingly and real, but she’s so different. It’s a difficult brain to live, in even temporarily. Definitely an insightful book, but also one that doesn’t relax, as a classroom teacher, I could use some excerpts, very sure.

I was blown away by this book. From the very beginning Patric is honest about how being a sociopath impacted her childhood and relationships. Instead of being dense with psychology jargon and statistics, Sociopath balances fact with storytelling.

This book would do wonders for people who still perpetuate stigmas against mental conditions and illnesses. I can’t wait until this book come out next year, and I’m telling all my friend’s to pre order it!

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.

A memoir on the misunderstood mental disorder of sociopathy written by a sociopath who has a PhD in clinical psychology? Um, yes. Sign me up.

Throughout her childhood, Patric knew that she was different but she didn’t have the words to explain why. She didn’t feel fear, guilt, and empathy like the rest of her peers and the only way to relieve herself of the intense pressure that she felt in her head was to do something that she knew was wrong: lie, steal, enter peoples’ homes without permission. It wasn’t until she went to college and landed in a psychology class that she learned the word “sociopath” and everything began to fall in to place. From here, Patric began her astonishing journey towards self-discovery.

This memoir is so incredibly well written and is wildly informative. Gagne’s stories and experiences are interesting, shocking and eye-opening, challenging the reader to examine their own views and beliefs of sociopathy. I learned so much that I didn’t know before. Whether you think (or know) that you have sociopathy or whether you don’t, this is an incredible read regardless. I was glad to see that Gagne included how she eventually learned to cope with her sociopathy with the help of CBT and other modalities of therapy. I believe any sociopath (or person who loves a sociopath, for that matter) reaching for this book will find the information helpful. I dare say that anyone out there dealing with sociopathic behaviors and tendencies will feel relief as they read this memoir.

Thank you to NetGalley for my digital copy! Out 04/02/2024!

Sociopath is a powerful, eye opening memoir by Patric Gagne about how she experiences the world as a diagnosed sociopath. The book begins in her early life, when she and her family first notice something is a bit "off" about her behavior at home and school—and spans decades into her adult life. Struggling to fit in, constantly comparing herself to everyone else who seem to feel feelings and experience love, she goes on to study psychology at UCLA, establish a career in the music industry, and eventually earn her PhD in clinical psychology. Throughout it all, she wonders if love and stability are possible after reuniting with someone from her youth. Gagne's unflinching storytelling made me cringe, laugh, and cry, offering a unique look at what it's like to live with this diagnosis. She strikes a nice balance between telling her own story and giving readers a chance to learn about the history and reality of sociopathy—something I really appreciated throughout this memoir. I am so grateful to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC! I look forward to picking up a hard copy when it comes out in April.

This novel was very needed and an eye opener to a subject that has always fascinated me. The author has written her thoughts extremely well and shows us her insights on her situation. This book makes sociopathy relatable in a certain way and I enjoyed it.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and author for the free copy of this book!

I really enjoyed learning about sociopathy and thinking about it in a different way. I almost wished this was more of a clinical book though than a memoir, I found the topic interesting but didn’t think the writing was anything special, at best, and was often cliche and left cliff hangers that seemed unnecessary,

This book has been needed for a long time. I highly recommend all people read it, but particularly those in mental health, healthcare and business. Sociopathy has been misunderstood for such a long time and I'm so glad Gagne is getting her story out there. In particular, I love the story about how she met her husband and their relationship.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

From an incredibly young age, Patric Gagne knew she was different. Unable to express, or feel, the same emotions as her fellow children, Gagne struggled to fill the void where those emotions should be. Acting out by petty theft, breaking and entering, and (in one instance) physical violence, Gagne realized she could break through the intense pressure in her mind and... breathe.

Both griping and educational, Patric Gagne's SOCIOPATH offers a glimpse into Gagne's life as a person with sociopathy. Her journey from lonely child to clinical psychologist was not only fascinating but heartbreaking-- to read Gagne describe her innate desire to <i> feel </i> but also strive to understand why she <i> couldn't </i> was poignant.

Gagne has an impressive self-awareness and ability to discuss her emotions and thought process, which added an incredible amount of depth to each part of her story. SOCIOPATH was highly educational for anyone wanting a first-person perspective on sociopathy and provides valuable insight into a severely underserved population.

Besides being an engaging memoir, this also helps the average person understand what a sociopath is and is not. This helps us to relate to a condition that is more prevalent than most of us even know. My biggest criticism is that it becomes slightly repetitive, more examples are given than are necessary, and it loses impact because of it.

The author shares with us her life as a psychopath.An amazing look a raw intimate eye opening look into her world .Really interesting eye opening and informative.#netgalley #simon&schuster

First off, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this book. I learned more about sociopathy than I ever thought possible within the pages of this memoir. Kudos to Gagne for such a difficult yet important book. All I can say is wow, this one is an eye-opener.

As someone with a master's in counseling, I've certainly talked about some of the therapeutic theories and approaches that Gagne talks about in later chapters as she seeks support and treatment. But, I've never worked in that actual capacity, so hearing about how skilled she became as a clinician, ultimately taking on the harder to treat cases, was phenomenal. I loved that she wound up studying herself - using herself as research- in order to figure out the best way to support herself. To put a stop to the destructive behavior she was exhibiting. And to ultimately get married, have long-standing friendships, have children, etc. I always find it interesting to see a clinician, who is living something like sociopathy, not agree with the DSM and other psychologists. Her inability to actually find good information about how this manifests and how to treat it was astounding.

If you love memoirs, or books about rarely discussed psychological disorders, this is a great book to dive into.

I this book is the real deal. Forget, whatever you’ve seen on TV or in the movies, this is an honest glimpse inside the mind of a sociopath with a PhD, and therefore psychologically minded. If you work in mental health, or are just curious about her this diagnosis, this is invaluable. She’s not a monster, she’s just a person who’s had to learn how to adapt her Neurodivergence. Should be required reading in psychology 101.

A sociopath writes a book…..
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you @netgalley for my copy of this intriguing memoir written by Patric Gagne, PhD. ✨A fascinating, revelatory memoir revealing the author’s struggle to come to terms with her own sociopathy and shed light on the often maligned and misunderstood mental disorder.✨

Taken from the books introduction :
“Representation matters. I offer my story because it illustrates the truth no one wants to admit: that darkness is where you least expect it. I am a criminal without a record. I am a master of disguise. I have never been caught. I have rarely been sorry. I am friendly. I am responsible. I am invisible. I blend right in. I am a twenty-first-century sociopath. And I’ve written this book because I know I’m not alone.”

I REALLY wanted to read this book. I have always loved learning about things that I know nothing about. I have heard sociopath and psychopath before but my nurse practitioner brain has never had to KNOW what that diagnosis entails. But the layperson in me has heard it on TV time and time again on Criminal Minds, Killing Eve, and other shows alike. Patric dives into her real life experience and holds nothing back. There is quite a bit of clinical jargon sprinkled throughout as she learns who she is and why she has trouble with her “color wheel of emotions” and why she does what she does. It’s eye opening. It’s funny, she’s really witty! It’s heartbreaking. It’s a true life story of someone who not only overcomes but keeps walking over that mountain and grabbing others, holding their hand, and helping them over that same mountain. It’s really good. You have to read it when it publishes next April!

QUOTES:
🌱“The purest love is not born from bliss. It is pulled from the pyre. It is fierce and shape-shifted, slightly twisted and delicious.”
❤️‍🩹”Just because your love is different doesn’t mean it doesn’t count”
🤨”Why does the word “sociopath” make people feel more than it makes them think?”
⭐️”People tended to get angry when I told them the truth. Lying, on the other hand, always kept me safe.”

⁉️Q: what is the very last strong emotion you remember feeling? What was happening?

Wow! This was such an interesting glimpse into the mind of someone with sociopathy. So many times thrillers and movies present these people as heartless and killers without remorse but this author told her story in a way that painted the disorder in a different light. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will pick up any of her future works.

This was a really interesting look into a very underrepresented and often misunderstood condition. I appreciate the humanness and vulnerability that the author brings to their prose, and found this very difficult to put down.

An interesting personal look into one sociopath’s mind. This book is excellent if you’re looking for actual real world information instead of just clinical research.

This is definitely one of the more interesting memoirs I’ve read. I went into this with no knowledge of sociopathy (or the fact that it was apparently removed from mental health literature a long time ago), but Patric’s story is fascinating, and she makes a valid point about the “rest of us”: we may not be sociopaths ourselves, but Patric encountered a number of people who exploited her personality disorder, asking her to do things they couldn’t do themselves, or joining her on seedy adventures for a personal high. Patric is not a violent person, and she’s never hurt a fly. Are we really any better than her simply because we can feel, and she’s limited in her own feelings?

I was most interested in Patric’s childhood memories. That to me is where this book really shines. She describes having no moral compass as a little kid, and nothing to stop her from doing whatever she wants, with the exception of her mom, who eventually tires of constantly having to monitor her older daughter on top of raising two girls mostly alone, moving across the country, and getting divorced. Patric writes of escaping sleepovers when everyone else in the house is asleep, and I was intrigued by this. I too was always the last to fall asleep at sleepovers, and I found the loneliness of it to be unbearable. I thought about walking home, but I never actually did, unlike Patric.

This is a strange book in so many ways. She writes of breaking into people’s homes, and this felt really lonely to read. I was surprised she never got caught. I can’t imagine what the life of a sociopath must look like, so I can’t question it. But some of the things she apparently did seemed very isolating to me.

Again, I can’t speak to the research behind this particular area of mental health, but Patric’s story is worth a read. She has a happy ending, as we already know from her Modern Love column, and this might give people who identify with her some hope that they can lead meaningful lives in a similar way.

This is an incredible and most unusual book. Although the general belief is that psychopaths can't have any insight into themselves, this writer, who is an admitted psychopath, does just that. That's what the whole book is about. She fearlessly (well, that's part of their personality type) scours her history, shamelessly tells us all the outrageous, dangerous, abusive, careless actions she took as a child. She works hard to reform but it's like asking a fledgling to fly across the English Channel.
It's great book. She offers, for the first time I've seen it, the idea that pychopathy might be a defect that's on a sliding scale. That might be why she is able to write about herself. Just a brilliant, evocative, polished and literate book.