Archive for June, 2006

Psychopaths in the executive suite

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If you’re one of those people who still thinks anyone should be able to recognize a psychopath, wake up: Not all psychopaths are beady-eyed serial killers. The psychopath you see every day could be your boss.

Snakes in Suits is the new book by Dr. Robert Hare, the international expert on psychopaths, and Dr. Paul Babiak, an industrial-organizational psychologist. (I wrote about the book last Sunday as well.) Buried on page 193 is a shocking statistic: 3.5% of business executives are psychopaths.

Hare and Babiak conducted original research with 200 high-potential executives. The 3.5% who scored as psychopaths were “superficial, grandiose, deceitful, impulsive, irresponsible, not taking responsibility for their own actions, and lacking goals, remorse and empathy.”

How psychopaths manipulate their victims

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Snakes in Suits—When Psychopaths Go to Work is a new book published by Dr. Robert Hare, the international expert on psychopaths, and Dr. Paul Babiak, an industrial-organizational psychologist. Although the book is primarily about psychopaths in the corporate world, it contains important information for anyone who is dealing with one of these predators.

Chapters 3 and 4 explain how psychopaths manipulate their victims, and it’s absolutely chilling.

Hare and Babiak describe a three-phase process psychopaths use in their parasitic approach to life. This isn’t a process psychopaths have to plan, they do it naturally. Here’s how it goes, according to the authors:

First, they assess the value of individuals to their needs, and identify their psychological strengths and

One woman’s story of near-destruction by a sociopath

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I am an abused woman. I don’t look it. I smile at the world from behind big brown eyes. I work, I speak to friends, I function. I am not battered and bruised. I do not sport visible scars of torture. I am well-educated, intelligent, creative, successful, attractive. But, I am also an abused woman.

This is the opening paragraph of a new book called The Dandelion Spirit—A True Life Fairytale of Love, Lies and Letting Go, by M. L. Gallagher.

The Dandelion Spirit tells the true story of how the author was seduced by a sociopath who dramatically proclaimed his love for her while he played on her sympathies. It then tells how the author slipped into … Read more

Posted in: Cases, M.L. Gallagher

Sign the petition for a marriage database

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“How can you find out if someone is married?” That question, or some variation of it, is the second-most popular search engine query leading people to Lovefraud.com. (The most popular is “What is a sociopath?”)

Here’s the short answer: You can’t find out if someone is married.

In the United States, there is no central database of marriage and divorce records. As explained on the “Is he married?” page of Lovefraud.com, marriage and divorce records are maintained by the separate states, and some states delegate the responsibility to the separate counties. Each registration authority—whether state or county—sets its own regulations for recording marriages and divorces.

The result is a mishmash of public policy. In Nevada, marriage records are … Read more

Posted in: Donna Andersen, Laws and courts, Sociopaths and family