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Jun 13·edited Jun 13

On the about page on her website it says:

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology announced in 2008 that they were merging with CGI, at which point students already on the doctoral track were informed that their degrees would be awarded by (and fall under) The Chicago School’s accreditation, which at that time offered a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

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See my recent post about her dissertation.

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I just read your piece, Jessie, and I had the almost mystical experience of reading someone who had every single thought that I had when I read the Gagne interview. Everything that bothered you about it bothered me. The whiteness of it, the flimsy way her credentials were reported and failure of the interviewer to probe more deeply about them, the danger in normalizing and medicalizing a personality type in which harming and deceiving others is central.

At one point I thought I was back in Vienna at the turn of the century, hearing some analyst make the argument that women are somehow inherently neurotic and hysterical.

And the whole idea that this supposed expert, with the support of her publishers, claims the label of sociopathy when the problems with this concept led to the change in DSM and all the recent research about antisocial personality disorder.

All those whose interests are of served by the persistence and promotion of the notion of a pathological, neurotic, vengeful, hysterical woman have to be called out and fought with ferocity. Its an especially useful concept for men raging against the perceived slipping away of their supremacy.

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Gagne has a brand new website (there was nothing when the book was published) that attempts to make her seem credible. Please, fellow evaluators, keep in mind that Gagne is 48 years old, not a newly minted college or graduate school student or Phd recipient. Now, her "About" section states that she "defended" her doctoral dissertation entitled “Followers of Fagin: Secondary Sociopathy and Its Relationship to Anxiety” . There is no identifiable record of this dissertation ; nor is there one credible psychological paper or study. Some sensationalized bits, but to claim professional expertise is a giant stretch.

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Thank you for this piece. I believe you used my quote about Gagne (not her real name) as a

"marketing dream ". After interviewing over 6,000 girl offenders in 22 states, including half the women on Death Row, and numerous self described women diagnosed with ASPD (the real term for sociopathy) for peer reviewed studies, I can say unequivocally that Gagne is not an expert but a canny fraud. No professional footprint, no past writing except Modern Love, no current doctorate or license to practice etc., no testimonials. The reprehensible magic trick of relabelling perpetrators as "victims of misunderstanding" is shameful for the victims of so called "sociopaths". If they are not rich and blond, they are criminals not "celebrated" authors. Simon & Shuster, her "publisher" was recently bought bought by a Hedge Fund. Hence the million dollar launch and total lack of integrity.

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I’m not buying it either. The whole time reading it, I felt like I was being manipulated by someone who has enjoyed success in manipulating those around her for a long time. She oozes the arrogance of an easy con artist. She had to stab her supposed friend with a sharpened pencil because she needed to feel calm? She needed to strangle a cat to relieve the pressure in her brain? And we are supposed to care that decent behavior just eludes her? I detect other personality disorders going on with her too. Borderline and narcissistic come to mind. Along with compulsive lying and delusions of grandiosity. Simon & Schuster got duped.

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See my piece above.

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The plot thickens.

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