Outsmarting the Sociopath Next Door

January 13, 2020
Psychologist Stout follows up The Sociopath Next Door with an intriguing companion guide to dealing with people who evince “an ice-cold unfeeling emptiness.” Stout addresses four main topics: sociopathy in children, at work, during child-custody battles, and in overtly “assaultive” and even “homicidal” people. To show how to maintain one’s safety and well-being in such situations, she uses anecdotes, some invented, others based on readers’ letters. Her examples include an 11-year-old whose mother discovered he had robbed the body of a man drowned in Superstorm Sandy, a boss who manipulates her employees to see them squirm, and a teen cyberbully who drove a classmate to suicide. Stout provides customized suggestions for each topic but also 10 general recommendations, including withholding the emotional reactions one’s persecutor is seeking and enlisting allies. She also examines the difference between narcissism and sociopathy and explores sociopathy in corporations and governments. Though her tone tends toward alarmism, Stout ends on a refreshingly optimistic note, lauding the ability of the “courageous and compassionate individual” to stand up against sociopaths. Her often grim but ultimately reassuring primer will leave readers feeling better prepared to face the malign individuals in their lives. Agent: Susan Lee Cohen, Riverside Literary.