Martha Stout
Author of The Sociopath Next Door
About the Author
Martha Stout, Ph.D., served on the faculty in psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School for more than twenty-five years and was a clinical associate at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She practiced as a clinical psychologist specializing in recovery from show more psychological trauma and PTSD. Dr. Stout has taught psychology at the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York, the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, and Wellesley College. She is the author of, among numerous other publications, The Sociopath Next Door, The Paranoia Switch, and The Myth of Sanity. show less
Works by Martha Stout
The Paranoia Switch: How Terror Rewires Our Brains and Reshapes Our Behavior and How We Can Reclaim Our Courage (2007) 86 copies, 1 review
Outsmarting the Sociopath Next Door: How to Protect Yourself Against a Ruthless Manipulator (2020) 75 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Stout, Martha
- Legal name
- Stout, Martha
- Birthdate
- 1953
- Gender
- female
- Education
- McClean Psychiatric Hospital (Residency)
- Occupations
- clinical psychologist
- Organizations
- Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital
National Institute for Mental Health
Wellesley College
The New School for Social Research
Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology - Awards and honors
- Books for a Better Life Award (2006)
- Agent
- Susan Lee Cohen
- Short biography
- Martha Stout, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and award-winning author, whose books have been acclaimed in the United States and translated for audiences throughout the world. Her work has startled the audiences of National Public Radio, NBC, CNN, Larry King Live, and Good Morning America, and the readers of publications ranging from the Boston Globe to the Oprah Magazine. The year after it was published, Dr. Stout’s best-selling book The Sociopath Next Door won the Books for a Better Life Award, in recognition of the many lives she has touched through her work on the psychological nature of conscience and the crucial nature of conscience in human life.
Dr. Stout served on the clinical faculty of the Harvard Medical School for more than twenty-five years, through the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and has taught on the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and the psychology faculty of Wellesley College.
Dr. Stout lives with her family on Cape Ann, in Massachusetts.
http://www.actionablebooks.com/author... - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Cape Ann, Massachusetts, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Reviews
Speaking as someone who lives with the effects of PTSD, I thought this was an amazing book. What stunned me was Dr. Stout's creative and effective use of language to describe emotional states. It is so rare to find anyone who is capable of viscerally understanding this hell without having been through some version of it. She even helped me put into words some of my fears that I didn't have words for before. Reading her book gave me so much comfort and helped me understand not only myself, show more but also my mother, and a friend of mine. I don't feel as crazy anymore.
I loved reading the stories because in them I could see demonstrated the concepts that she was talking about. Some things I could relate to, some not - but it gave me concrete pictures through which to understand her intellectual theories (or hypotheses?).
I think she has a good point when she writes that there is a lot of unrecognized dissociation in 'normal' society; I also like her pointing out that dissociation is a normal part of human life and can be just pleasant (daydreaming) or downright life enhancing (when used in creative endeavors). show less
I loved reading the stories because in them I could see demonstrated the concepts that she was talking about. Some things I could relate to, some not - but it gave me concrete pictures through which to understand her intellectual theories (or hypotheses?).
I think she has a good point when she writes that there is a lot of unrecognized dissociation in 'normal' society; I also like her pointing out that dissociation is a normal part of human life and can be just pleasant (daydreaming) or downright life enhancing (when used in creative endeavors). show less
Outsmarting the Sociopath Next Door: How to Protect Yourself Against a Ruthless Manipulator by Martha Stout
A chilling but ultimately very helpful manual for dealing with sociopaths. The author presents a number of instructive case studies which both provide a guide for spotting a sociopath as well as explicit tips for surviving your encounter with one. She provides step-by-step instructions for waging war against ones you meet in the workplace as well as strategies for those who are related to one by either blood or marriage.
Although these stories are terrifying, they provide a rare practical show more tool for negotiating this most treacherous of social interaction. The author delves quite a bit into the nature of evil and quantifying sociopathic behavior and how it is distinguished from narcissistic behavior. A truly fascinating and cautionary read. show less
Although these stories are terrifying, they provide a rare practical show more tool for negotiating this most treacherous of social interaction. The author delves quite a bit into the nature of evil and quantifying sociopathic behavior and how it is distinguished from narcissistic behavior. A truly fascinating and cautionary read. show less
These days, with the abundance of books, movies, and television programs available on demand for instant entertainment, our knowledge tends to be informed by popular culture. Because of this, our intake of the dramatic simplification of most topics is outweighed drastically by factual representation.
With this in mind, it is no wonder that most of us envision dangerous people as wild-eyed lunatics noticeable a mile way, disheveled madmen that are encountered far and few between.
As Martha show more Stout demonstrates in The Sociopath Next Door, there are people capable of unimaginable atrocities all around us, and not only do they appear like everyone else, but they might even be less conspicuous than one would hope.
If Good and Evil are opposites of the same coin, and Good people are those who care and feel for others, then it stands to reason that evil exists as people lacking the ability to care or love. These people exist, cold and calculating sociopaths unfettered by the restrictions of guilt or conscious, and they do so in alarming numbers reaching epidemic proportions. 4% of the US population are afflicted with Sociopathic Personalities, far greater than those afflicted with cancer. Meaning one out of every twenty-five people you meet feel no remorse or regret, and are capable of anything.
Martha Stout's book strikes an elegant balance between clinical facts and anecdotal examples, making this book an easy read that manages not to come off as either a fluffy fear-mongering diatribe or a stuffy jargon-laden medical tome. The examples created from personal case studies perfectly illustrate the points of each chapter, but don't detract from the factual or philosophical topics discussed.
Despite chapters warning of the realities of the sociopaths among us, such as their alarming ability to blend in and even charm us into their confidence, her tone never reaches an alarmist level. This is a book that informs and prepares, with instilling false hope or blind panic in its audience. Also, while this topic is heavy with emotion, Stout never descends into supermarket tabloid prose. Apart from a slight detour into 9/11, which almost has no bearing on the topic at hand, the examination of the origins and ramifications of the human conscious remain informative and exploratory without becoming preachy. Especially interesting is the chapter that delves into the nature vs. nurture debate, in which she examines the genetic, environmental, and cultural influences that can help create or subdue a growing child's sociopathic tendencies.
If you have ever witnessed someone behaving extraordinarily ruthlessly or cruelly, and have wondered how someone could even bring themselves to act in such a manner, this book will go a long way towards satisfying your curiosity. show less
With this in mind, it is no wonder that most of us envision dangerous people as wild-eyed lunatics noticeable a mile way, disheveled madmen that are encountered far and few between.
As Martha show more Stout demonstrates in The Sociopath Next Door, there are people capable of unimaginable atrocities all around us, and not only do they appear like everyone else, but they might even be less conspicuous than one would hope.
If Good and Evil are opposites of the same coin, and Good people are those who care and feel for others, then it stands to reason that evil exists as people lacking the ability to care or love. These people exist, cold and calculating sociopaths unfettered by the restrictions of guilt or conscious, and they do so in alarming numbers reaching epidemic proportions. 4% of the US population are afflicted with Sociopathic Personalities, far greater than those afflicted with cancer. Meaning one out of every twenty-five people you meet feel no remorse or regret, and are capable of anything.
Martha Stout's book strikes an elegant balance between clinical facts and anecdotal examples, making this book an easy read that manages not to come off as either a fluffy fear-mongering diatribe or a stuffy jargon-laden medical tome. The examples created from personal case studies perfectly illustrate the points of each chapter, but don't detract from the factual or philosophical topics discussed.
Despite chapters warning of the realities of the sociopaths among us, such as their alarming ability to blend in and even charm us into their confidence, her tone never reaches an alarmist level. This is a book that informs and prepares, with instilling false hope or blind panic in its audience. Also, while this topic is heavy with emotion, Stout never descends into supermarket tabloid prose. Apart from a slight detour into 9/11, which almost has no bearing on the topic at hand, the examination of the origins and ramifications of the human conscious remain informative and exploratory without becoming preachy. Especially interesting is the chapter that delves into the nature vs. nurture debate, in which she examines the genetic, environmental, and cultural influences that can help create or subdue a growing child's sociopathic tendencies.
If you have ever witnessed someone behaving extraordinarily ruthlessly or cruelly, and have wondered how someone could even bring themselves to act in such a manner, this book will go a long way towards satisfying your curiosity. show less
Explores the prevalence of Dissociative Identity Disorder, popularly known in its most extreme form as multiple personality disorder. Dr. Stout, a psychological trauma specialist, conveys how small things we interpret as distraction, spacing out, or situational fatigue are physiologically and behaviorally not different from an abused individual’s experience of dissociation or hypnotic trance. Events in our life that we may not quantify as abusive or traumatic affect us; our brains catalog show more traumatic experiences and trigger "dissociative" coping strategies even for things we may label as insignificant. The “severity” of an event is irrelevant; the presence of fear, for whatever reason, and a desire to escape it causes our brain to develop coping mechanisms. Future feelings of fear that our brain processes as similar trigger those mechanisms and, consequently, end those feelings. Stout’s explanation and accounts of this idea are fascinating reading. show less
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- Popularity
- #9,619
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 116
- ISBNs
- 38
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