Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via NetGalley included. No affiliate links were used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Paula’s e-reader is lying on a grey blanket beside a cup of coffee. The e-reader is open on the title page of Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne.
Patric Gagne is a child when she first hears the word sociopath and instinctively knows that it applies to her and her compulsions. Yet, finding accurate information about sociopathy is difficult. She cannot even find a definition in the dictionary. She checked multiple editions.
Gagne is upfront about who she is. Some of the ways she describes herself include 'a passionate mother and wife', 'an engaging therapist', 'a writer', 'a liar', 'a thief', 'highly manipulative', 'friendly', 'a criminal without a record', and 'a master of disguise'. Given this, the reader may question how reliable a narrator of her life Gagne is. For me, Gagne engages in self and critical reflection about her actions without excusing them.
Still lacking information and resources by the time she attends college, Gagne focuses her academic and clinical work on helping other sociopaths especially now that she has received a formal diagnosis. She seeks the diagnosis while being critical of psychiatric pathologisation. Not least because there are no specific diagnostic criteria for sociopathy. Sociopathy and psychopathy are assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), which is used in a forensic mental health setting and focuses on criminality and violence. There is an adapted version called the PCL-SV (Screening Version), which removes the need for a criminal record that is used in clinical and research settings.
It's a minefield that doesn't do much to counter the misunderstandings, misinformation, and disinformation about sociopathy and psychopathy. Honestly, based on news media and pop culture portrayals of sociopaths and psychopaths most of us have little accurate understanding of either. This is where I think Gagne's memoir will have the most impact. It adds to the growing discussions around mental illness and psychiatric pathologisation. While Gagne doesn't mention neurodivergence by name, her exploration of the failings of the pathology model reminds me of the ongoing discussions around what fits under the neurodivergent umbrella.
Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne is published by Bluebird, an imprint of Pan Macmillian. It is available in hardback, ebook, and audiobook formats.
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