I started and finished A Sense of Direction in one evening; I couldn't really stop thinking about it, so I couldn't put it down. I found it...
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Having lived with a true psychopath for over 20 years, I know how hard it is to recognize & deal with people like this. (He was diagnosed by many different psychiatric/psychological professionals over many years.) If you don't know them personally & spend lots of time in therapy & studying hundreds of books & such about them, they are almost impossible to spot & even when they're manipulating you, you'd swear it wasn't so. Babiak & Hare give good descriptions & advice about how to spot & deal with people like this, although because it's in a business context, & thus it's limited. I've seen the man I lived with completely take over a work situation with super intelligent, educated, smart, reasonable people...many of them psychiatrists, psychologists, & social workers!...& within a couple of months completely upset & control everyone there. REPEATEDLY! Going from place to place & perfecting his MO along the way. If you hadn't seen it & didn't know, you'd never believe it could be done so easily. He considered it a challenge to work with Psychology professionals & said he found them easier to manipulate than many others. But anyone in a profession that has status was his ideal prey. He liked to bring people down & the higher up the status ladder they were the more he enjoyed it. I don't think Babiak went into enough detail about the sadistic & sado-sexual aspects of psychopaths, which is a very strong commonality in most of them. And the sadism doesn't have to be sexual to "get them off". Nor are they usually fussy about gender. Hurting anyone is just fun for them, adult, child, male, female, anyone. THAT SADISM is really what people need to keep in mind. (Babiak really should have stressed this more.) Unlike ordinary people, psychopaths will painstakingly set up situations in which they can manipulate hurting someone. They set "traps" & slowly manoeuvre people into them, delighting when the trap snaps shut & their prey is terribly wounded.
Still, the book is very good as far as it goes & it enlightens in the respect of providing an answer for the questions so many ordinary people ask when horrendous corporate-political crimes come to light: "How could anyone do that? Who are these people anyway?"
It's all about learning the PATTERNS psychopaths & their victims adhere to. Once you learn those & have them firmly in mind, then you can see when the patterns are unfolding...in anyone, anywhere. Like Dr. Frank's book, "Bush on the Couch", you learn that there are actually a lot of "psychos" out there; recently there have been a lot of them in very high places; they often form their own "clubs", involving several or many of them in tight nit groups (like the Skull & Bones Club the Bushes were in); & no matter where they are they all follow certain very distinctive behaviour PATTERNS.
These things might have been made clearer in the book. But really, if anyone is interested in this topic, they should read several books!
The most important thing I've found in recognizing & dealing with a psychopath, is to be BRUTALLY HONEST yourself! This, I think is another reason they "home in on" the corporate context...where, in recent years (under politicians who favour unbridled/anything-goes "free trade" w/o any regulations or restraints) a kind of ruthless/conscienceless lawlessness, brutality, & greed were praised!...Psychopaths very much fit the bill. (As the authors emphasize.)
When so many people are not being really honest with themselves or others, psychopaths have a huge opening to slip into. And because of pride, people will deny that they're being abused by someone, & even make excuses & justifications defending that individual to maintain the illusion of being in control themselves.
Though all abusers aren't total psychopaths, psychopaths are always abusers. And the same things that apply to battered-wives & other victims of long term abuse, also apply to those who have suffered the creeping stealthy sadism of psychopaths. Once you've been there...provided you survive it & are honest enough to admit it & then learn about it...you really do see the patterns enacted every time, for anyone, anywhere.
Anyone who is really honest & really looks at the facts without rose coloured glasses, excuses, justifications, denial, knee-jerk projections or other EVASION tactics...will see the Bush administration & the leaders of the "neo-Cons" (& "Cons" they were!) following the same patterns of psychopathic behaviour unwaveringly. Then you also see the "neo-Dems" (wimpy Democrats!) as following the patterns of "battered-wives" & victims of psychopathic bullying behaviour.
But I guess that's another couple of book or three.
Maybe Babiak & Hare will do some follow-ups. There just can't be too many books about this because people really do need to learn to recognize such people, identify their behaviour patterns, & unstintingly learn to counter their abuse.
This book is a very good start.
CC *-)
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Snakes in Suits: Psychopaths in the Workplace by Paul Babiak
claudichameleon, March 13, 2009
Having lived with a true psychopath for over 20 years, I know how hard it is to recognize & deal with people like this. (He was diagnosed by many different psychiatric/psychological professionals over many years.) If you don't know them personally & spend lots of time in therapy & studying hundreds of books & such about them, they are almost impossible to spot & even when they're manipulating you, you'd swear it wasn't so. Babiak & Hare give good descriptions & advice about how to spot & deal with people like this, although because it's in a business context, & thus it's limited. I've seen the man I lived with completely take over a work situation with super intelligent, educated, smart, reasonable people...many of them psychiatrists, psychologists, & social workers!...& within a couple of months completely upset & control everyone there. REPEATEDLY! Going from place to place & perfecting his MO along the way. If you hadn't seen it & didn't know, you'd never believe it could be done so easily. He considered it a challenge to work with Psychology professionals & said he found them easier to manipulate than many others. But anyone in a profession that has status was his ideal prey. He liked to bring people down & the higher up the status ladder they were the more he enjoyed it. I don't think Babiak went into enough detail about the sadistic & sado-sexual aspects of psychopaths, which is a very strong commonality in most of them. And the sadism doesn't have to be sexual to "get them off". Nor are they usually fussy about gender. Hurting anyone is just fun for them, adult, child, male, female, anyone. THAT SADISM is really what people need to keep in mind. (Babiak really should have stressed this more.) Unlike ordinary people, psychopaths will painstakingly set up situations in which they can manipulate hurting someone. They set "traps" & slowly manoeuvre people into them, delighting when the trap snaps shut & their prey is terribly wounded.Still, the book is very good as far as it goes & it enlightens in the respect of providing an answer for the questions so many ordinary people ask when horrendous corporate-political crimes come to light: "How could anyone do that? Who are these people anyway?"
It's all about learning the PATTERNS psychopaths & their victims adhere to. Once you learn those & have them firmly in mind, then you can see when the patterns are unfolding...in anyone, anywhere. Like Dr. Frank's book, "Bush on the Couch", you learn that there are actually a lot of "psychos" out there; recently there have been a lot of them in very high places; they often form their own "clubs", involving several or many of them in tight nit groups (like the Skull & Bones Club the Bushes were in); & no matter where they are they all follow certain very distinctive behaviour PATTERNS.
These things might have been made clearer in the book. But really, if anyone is interested in this topic, they should read several books!
The most important thing I've found in recognizing & dealing with a psychopath, is to be BRUTALLY HONEST yourself! This, I think is another reason they "home in on" the corporate context...where, in recent years (under politicians who favour unbridled/anything-goes "free trade" w/o any regulations or restraints) a kind of ruthless/conscienceless lawlessness, brutality, & greed were praised!...Psychopaths very much fit the bill. (As the authors emphasize.)
When so many people are not being really honest with themselves or others, psychopaths have a huge opening to slip into. And because of pride, people will deny that they're being abused by someone, & even make excuses & justifications defending that individual to maintain the illusion of being in control themselves.
Though all abusers aren't total psychopaths, psychopaths are always abusers. And the same things that apply to battered-wives & other victims of long term abuse, also apply to those who have suffered the creeping stealthy sadism of psychopaths. Once you've been there...provided you survive it & are honest enough to admit it & then learn about it...you really do see the patterns enacted every time, for anyone, anywhere.
Anyone who is really honest & really looks at the facts without rose coloured glasses, excuses, justifications, denial, knee-jerk projections or other EVASION tactics...will see the Bush administration & the leaders of the "neo-Cons" (& "Cons" they were!) following the same patterns of psychopathic behaviour unwaveringly. Then you also see the "neo-Dems" (wimpy Democrats!) as following the patterns of "battered-wives" & victims of psychopathic bullying behaviour.
But I guess that's another couple of book or three.
Maybe Babiak & Hare will do some follow-ups. There just can't be too many books about this because people really do need to learn to recognize such people, identify their behaviour patterns, & unstintingly learn to counter their abuse.
This book is a very good start.
CC *-)
(5 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)