Another random buy. This book is so complex that I have decided to review it in two parts as not to forget anything.
Review 1: Pages 1 - 106.
This book is not at all what I expected. I don't know what I was expecting, but this is not it. The Psychopath Inside is written by a neuroscientist who was researching the physiological basis of alzheimer's disease and later began to investigate psychopathy as a result of being asked to review the brain scans of serial killers with the aim to find a physiological pattern in said brain scans; a neural basis of psychopathy. Amongst his investigations, Fallon found his own brain scan to show the same patterns of neural activity as those of the murders. So this book, so far and in part, is his journey through this realisation.
Chapter one delves into what it means to be a psychopath and details the medical definitions of psychopathy - or lack of! He quotes Hare and talks through the Psychopath checklist which consistently crops up in books of this nature. He also explains the DSM manual approach to psychopathy and the investigative techniques used to study the brain.
Chapter two describes his early life through to his adult life and how his experiences shaped who his is today (more or less). Chapter three, The brain of a killer, takes a turn for the neurosciences as he discusses the different parts of the brain, approaches to the brain and circuit in the brain that are consistent in depression sufferers, post-traumatic stress disorders and alzheimer's. It also talks about enzymes in the brain that excite and inhibit behaviours - all rather confusing stuff! The good news is, Fallon provides some imagery to accompany these severely serious jargon filled pages.
Chapter four is aptly named 'Bloodlines' as Fallon states what he knows about his ancestors and their history of antisocial behaviours and murder. However, he also explains why his ancestry doesn't automatically make him an antisocial individual which I found to be a rather clever way of covering all bases; anatomy, genetics and environmental bases of psychopathy... COVERED!
Chapter five has lost me completely. I have no idea what an MAOA is, or an RNA or an COMT. This detail is a whole new level of complicated! I have no idea what I have just read. Although, I have fnd out that men have a warrior gene that attaches itself to the y-chromosome; sixteen pages and that is all I remember!
I hope the rest of the book picks up because I am loosing hope reading it. I have touched on neuroscience in my first year at university (now going into my second year) and even I had trouble with these topics. I would not advise anyone who does not have some existing knowledge of neuroscience to attempt to read this book!
Review 2: The rest of the book!
Well! This was a turn up for the books. I now assume that all the complicated-ness was a platform for what was to come and set the scene for the succeeding chapters. The majority of the second half of Fallon's book is a personal account of the journey to enlightenment - the psychopathy within. Fallon proves how difficult diagnosing an illness, any illness, can be. He travels through the possibilities of depression and psychopathy, to later find out, accidentally, that he is comorbid.
James Fallon is a magic balance that will intrigue any psychology student; how a potential psychopath can be non-violent, but display all other characteristics of psychopathy. The topics that I love most about this book is the purely personal information that it contains. Namingly, the effect that his behaviours had on his family, his children, his friends and work buddies, before and after his diagnoses.
Out of all of the books that I have read most recently, I think this may actually be my least favourite. This is because of his complexity, but at the same time, the second half of the book really shouted out to me. I managed to read the last 121 pages in an afternoon (not bad for a dyslexic individual!). I felt that Fallon's personality jumped out of the pages, like I could feel his lack of emotion by reading his words.
What I would like to know this is: Fallon refers to himself as a 'Psychopath Lite' or a 'Prosocial Psychopath' because he has no criminal convictions. BUT!!!! He later says that as a teenager, he was known to break into houses and steal cars. This counts a delinquency! Just because he wasn't caught, does not mean he didn't do it and, therefore, he meets ALL of the criterions of psychopathy!
I suppose what I am trying to say is that this is a true account of an individual who has a collection of symptoms, but who is just as confused as the rest of us regardless of his academic status. I would not recommend this book to anybody who does not have a little knowledge on neuroscience because, even though Fallon explains the anatomy in some detail, this does not stop this topic from being confusing.
I watched this video as soon as it was referred to in the book and this much more easier to understand than the first half of the book. Enjoy :-)
Review 2: The rest of the book!
Well! This was a turn up for the books. I now assume that all the complicated-ness was a platform for what was to come and set the scene for the succeeding chapters. The majority of the second half of Fallon's book is a personal account of the journey to enlightenment - the psychopathy within. Fallon proves how difficult diagnosing an illness, any illness, can be. He travels through the possibilities of depression and psychopathy, to later find out, accidentally, that he is comorbid.
James Fallon is a magic balance that will intrigue any psychology student; how a potential psychopath can be non-violent, but display all other characteristics of psychopathy. The topics that I love most about this book is the purely personal information that it contains. Namingly, the effect that his behaviours had on his family, his children, his friends and work buddies, before and after his diagnoses.
Out of all of the books that I have read most recently, I think this may actually be my least favourite. This is because of his complexity, but at the same time, the second half of the book really shouted out to me. I managed to read the last 121 pages in an afternoon (not bad for a dyslexic individual!). I felt that Fallon's personality jumped out of the pages, like I could feel his lack of emotion by reading his words.
What I would like to know this is: Fallon refers to himself as a 'Psychopath Lite' or a 'Prosocial Psychopath' because he has no criminal convictions. BUT!!!! He later says that as a teenager, he was known to break into houses and steal cars. This counts a delinquency! Just because he wasn't caught, does not mean he didn't do it and, therefore, he meets ALL of the criterions of psychopathy!
I suppose what I am trying to say is that this is a true account of an individual who has a collection of symptoms, but who is just as confused as the rest of us regardless of his academic status. I would not recommend this book to anybody who does not have a little knowledge on neuroscience because, even though Fallon explains the anatomy in some detail, this does not stop this topic from being confusing.
I watched this video as soon as it was referred to in the book and this much more easier to understand than the first half of the book. Enjoy :-)
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