"Sociopath: A Memoir" by Patric Gagne, PhD

So, two memoirs in a row, eh? Imagine my surprise when, in the epilogue of this second one, I discovered that it, too, had started as a Modern Love column in the New York Times! Other than the interestingly coincidental timing, I guess that shouldn't be surprising. I just googled it, and apparently the column editor is on record stating that he's aware of at least 47 book deals resulting from the column!

But I digress. Let's focus on the one at hand. I think the subject matter here is eminently clear just from the cover of the book. This is the life story of a woman who calls herself a sociopath, and who ought to know what she's talking about, based on those three little letters after her name. 

I have always had difficulty parsing the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath (not least because the word psychopath seems to me to have more intensely negative connotations than the word sociopath, but whenever I look up the definitions it sounds the other way around). I have also always found the ideas of psychopathy and sociopathy intriguing in a slightly scary way; I am both fascinated and repelled. I'm curious, and I want to understand, while at the same time I wonder if maybe that's impossible.

I had a chat with GPT that made me doubtful of the veracity of Gagne's self-diagnosis of sociopathy. I know he's just repeating what he's heard, but he's heard about significant skepticism and critique from other mental health professionals and clinical psychologists. Apparently this mainly stems from the fact that a true sociopath feels no distress over their lack of empathy, whereas Gagne finds it a source of stress. 

This memoir was an engaging read, and I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't say I loved it all the way through. In fact, right from the beginning--actually on the very first page of the book--I found myself slightly indignant about the implication that my interest in this topic might indicate that I am a sociopath myself. Then there was the fact that whole sections of this book, in the form of conversations (with Patric's father, with David, with Dr Carlin, with "Max Magus"--AKA John Mayer, right?) are clumsily-concealed info dumps. Which I can forgive, since I know that the ostensible purpose of this book is to help other sociopaths by providing them with much-needed and difficult-to-find information. Still further, at times I found myself reading an anecdote and wondering: can this actually be true? But then I remembered how James Frey was crucified in the press for making up his memoir, and I think surely the publishing world learned a lesson from that. 

So, maybe not a perfect book, but I think it's a good one to read if you share my morbid interest in sociopathy. And at least I don't feel too bad about criticizing the writing; I'm pretty sure Gagne wouldn't care.