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.
I once requested and received Sterling Morrison's 1986 dissertation (hardcopy) from the Univ of TX Austin through my university library via interlibrary loan. It doesn't make sense that Gagne's dissertation, even if it exists only in hardcopy, is not searchable in academic databases or retrievable through ILL.
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.
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.
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.
I am a victim of stalking and read up on personality disorders in an effort to understand the mentality of people who are stalkers. A few things struck me in Gagne's memoir.
One, she makes it clear that she does not feel guilt or remorse. And never, not once, in the book does she apologize for the harm of her deviant actions. She says she broke into homes, stole cars and stole items from people. This causes harm and trauma. I know from experience. I feel like my life has been destroyed by sociopaths. And to see her being so glib and her family supporting her behavior is very disturbing. She may think it did no harm to break into a house and hang out and take minor items, but people sense these things. Then they have to suspect their housemates or other innocent people for being the perps.
I do appreciate her sharing her motivations for these deviant acts. I don't know who stalks me. I don't know if I said something or did something to anger them or if they randomly latched on to me. I do know it has gone on for over 10 years and few people believe me when I tell them that someone comes into my home and moves and takes minor items.
Another area she does not address is the brain function aspect of sociopathy. There is research that there is damage to the frontal lobe and cerebral cortex. I feel that if she truly had empathy for other sociopaths, her stated reason to become a psychiatrist, she would have delved into the biological factors associated with it.
Overall I too feel her book is grift and I'm glad I borrowed it from the library rather than rewarding her.
I am currently reading the book and having many similar thoughts. While she is a good writer, and makes the story intriguing, I don't have any empathy for her. She is giving us an "inside look" at what being a sociopath feels like, but yes the difference between her and the men in the prison she goes to see is indeed her privilege. What would be more interesting to read: is this nature or nurture? So far we haven't read much about her dad, though it appears he may have been cheating and that's why her mom left. So maybe he was "gifted" with these same genes; not caring whom he hurts and just goes after what he wants? I'm going to keep reading but glad I found out about the flimsy credentials. For another one who made up ALL her credentials, see Rick Emerson's Unmasking Alice, about the author who wrote the made up diary of "Go Ask Alice". Sounds like she was also a sociopath and made millions grifting her story and destroyed many lives in the process.
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.
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.
See my piece above.
The plot thickens.
I once requested and received Sterling Morrison's 1986 dissertation (hardcopy) from the Univ of TX Austin through my university library via interlibrary loan. It doesn't make sense that Gagne's dissertation, even if it exists only in hardcopy, is not searchable in academic databases or retrievable through ILL.
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.
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.
See my recent post about her dissertation.
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.
I am a victim of stalking and read up on personality disorders in an effort to understand the mentality of people who are stalkers. A few things struck me in Gagne's memoir.
One, she makes it clear that she does not feel guilt or remorse. And never, not once, in the book does she apologize for the harm of her deviant actions. She says she broke into homes, stole cars and stole items from people. This causes harm and trauma. I know from experience. I feel like my life has been destroyed by sociopaths. And to see her being so glib and her family supporting her behavior is very disturbing. She may think it did no harm to break into a house and hang out and take minor items, but people sense these things. Then they have to suspect their housemates or other innocent people for being the perps.
I do appreciate her sharing her motivations for these deviant acts. I don't know who stalks me. I don't know if I said something or did something to anger them or if they randomly latched on to me. I do know it has gone on for over 10 years and few people believe me when I tell them that someone comes into my home and moves and takes minor items.
Another area she does not address is the brain function aspect of sociopathy. There is research that there is damage to the frontal lobe and cerebral cortex. I feel that if she truly had empathy for other sociopaths, her stated reason to become a psychiatrist, she would have delved into the biological factors associated with it.
Overall I too feel her book is grift and I'm glad I borrowed it from the library rather than rewarding her.
I am currently reading the book and having many similar thoughts. While she is a good writer, and makes the story intriguing, I don't have any empathy for her. She is giving us an "inside look" at what being a sociopath feels like, but yes the difference between her and the men in the prison she goes to see is indeed her privilege. What would be more interesting to read: is this nature or nurture? So far we haven't read much about her dad, though it appears he may have been cheating and that's why her mom left. So maybe he was "gifted" with these same genes; not caring whom he hurts and just goes after what he wants? I'm going to keep reading but glad I found out about the flimsy credentials. For another one who made up ALL her credentials, see Rick Emerson's Unmasking Alice, about the author who wrote the made up diary of "Go Ask Alice". Sounds like she was also a sociopath and made millions grifting her story and destroyed many lives in the process.
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.