A review by jessiewolf
Sociopath by Patric Gagne

4.5

To me, SOCIOPATH reads like a love letter to neurodiversity. In this memoir, Patric Gagne traces her sociopathy from childhood exploits through her adult diagnosis to her decision to get a PhD in order to provide the therapeutic resources for other sociopaths that she needed but were not available. Gagne positions sociopathy as a spectrum not unlike the autism spectrum, and as a series of compulsions not unlike those experienced by people with OCD. She argues that the stigma connected to sociopathy has prevented clinicians from researching the subject, and has definitely made it near impossible for sociopaths to receive care or resources. 

Gagnes aims to reduce the stigma around apathy in particular—this feeling is one she identifies as her default feeling in many situations, but the anxiety she felt around her socially unacceptable apathy led her to seek relief through high-risk behaviors like breaking into people’s houses and stalking people. This memoir follows Gagnes’s darkest impulses and doesn’t shy away from imploring the reader to identify with that darkness. 

If you have any experience with neurodiversity, I think you will find a home in this memoir! Gagnes argues for acceptance of all ways of experiencing feelings and compulsions, and I found SOCIOPATH to be a candid and refreshing on contemporary psychology and therapy.