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While the best way to deal with a sociopath is to avoid them entirely, sometimes circumstance doesn’t allow for that. What happens when the time comes to defend yourself against your own child, a boss, or ruthless ex-spouse? Inspired by the many chilling and often heartbreaking emails and letters she has received over the years, from her work with the victims of sociopathy, Dr. Martha Stout uncovers the psychology behind the sociopath’s methods and provides concrete guidelines to help navigate these dangerous interactions.

Organized around categories such as destructive narcissism, violent sociopaths, sociopathic coworkers, and the sociopath in your family, Outsmarting the Sociopath Next Door contains detailed explanation and commentary on how best to react in these situations to keep the sociopath at bay. Uniting these categories is a discussion of changing psychological theories of personality and sociopathy and the enduring triumph of conscience over those who operate without empathy or concern for others. By understanding the person you’re dealing with and changing the rules of the game, you’ll be able to gain the upper hand and escape the sociopath’s influence.

Whether you’re fighting a custody battle against a sociopathic ex or being gaslighted by a boss or coworker, you’ll find hope and help within these pages. With this guide to disarming the conscienceless, Dr. Stout aims to give readers the tools to protect themselves while conducting a broader examination of human behavior and conceptions of normality.

Think you already own your brain? Think again. Your brain owns you. It pushes you around and insists upon getting its way, not yours. Rather than having your best interests in mind, your brain has its own very specific agendas and strategies the purpose of which is singular—to make it feel good. It doesn’t care that its goals are often at stark variance with your intentions or what you know is healthy and constructive in your life. Your brain is selfish, demanding, and devious.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Override introduces a new two-pronged theory of personality: serotonin types and dopamine types. Based on today’s breakthrough science into neurotransmitters—the chemicals that transmit signals through our nervous system—Override show readers how to recognize their own chemical imbalances, and what to do about them.

One of the key parts of developing these strategies is understanding the ways serotonin and dopamine are supposed to work, and which type you fall under. Equipped with this new information, the reader will learn to recognize and reshape their reflexive behavior and develop intentional self-control. With this book, nobody is doomed to remain trapped by their natural tendencies!

Override details the struggles of people, both D- and S-Types, and show how together with them the authors found a path to change that can start this minute and last a lifetime. Complete with easy-to-use questionnaires, strategies, and exercises, this book offers micro and macro thinking on iconic human problems, backed up by the latest scientific research into why we are the way we are.