Michael H. Stone

The crimes of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Rader, and other high-profile killers are so breathtakingly awful that most people would not hesitate to label them "evil." In this groundbreaking book, renowned psychiatrist Michael H. Stone—host of Discovery Channel’s former series Most Evil—uses this common emotional reaction to horrifying acts as his starting point to explore the concept and reality of evil from a new perspective. In an in-depth discussion of the personality traits and behavior that constitute evil across a wide spectrum, Dr. Stone takes a clarifying scientific approach to a topic that for centuries has been inadequately explained by religious doctrines.

Basing his analysis on the detailed biographies of more than 600 violent criminals, Stone has created a 22-level hierarchy of evil behavior, which loosely reflects the structure of Dante’s Inferno. He traces two salient personality traits that run the gamut from those who commit crimes of passion to perpetrators of the worst crimes—sadistic torture and murder. One trait is narcissism, as exhibited in people who are so self-centered that they have little or no ability to care about their victims. The other is aggression, the use of power over another person to inflict humiliation, suffering, and death.

Stone then turns to the various factors that, singly or intertwined, contribute to pushing certain people over the edge into committing heinous crimes. They include heredity, adverse environments, violence-prone cultures, mental illness or brain injury, and abuse of mind-altering drugs. All are considered in the search for the root causes of evil behavior.

What do psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience tell us about the minds of those whose actions could be described as evil? And what will that mean for the rest of us? Stone discusses how an increased understanding of the causes of evil will affect the justice system. He predicts a day when certain persons can safely be declared salvageable and restored to society and when early signs of violence in children may be corrected before potentially dangerous patterns become entrenched.

The Anatomy of Evil

Basing his analysis on the detailed biographies of more than 600 violent criminals, Stone has created a 22-level hierarchy of evil behavior, which loosely reflects the structure of Dante's "Inferno."

"In this groundbreaking book, renowned psychiatrist Michael H. Stone explores the concept and reality of evil from a new perspective. In an in-depth discussion of the personality traits and behaviors that constitute evil across a wide spectrum, Dr. Stone takes a clarifying scientific approach to a topic that for centuries has been inadequately explained by religious doctrines"--Amazon.com.

Gary Brucato

A leading psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist specializing in criminal pathology offer chilling insights into the minds of murderers through a hierarchy of criminal behavior ranging from crimes of passion to serial murder. This follow-up volume to Dr. Stone's The Anatomy of Evil presents compelling evidence that, since a cultural tipping-point in the 1960s, certain types of violent crime have emerged that in earlier decades never or very rarely occurred. The authors examine the biological and psychiatric factors behind serial killing, serial rape, torture, mass and spree murders, and other severe forms of violence. In addition, they persuasively argue that, in at least some cases, a collapse of moral faculties contributes to the commission of such heinous crimes, such that "evil" should be considered not only a valid area of inquiry, but sometimes an imperative one. Returning to his groundbreaking scale for the ranking of degrees of evil, Dr. Stone and Dr. Brucato, a fellow violence and serious psychopathology expert, provide more detail than ever before, using dozens of cases associated with the twenty-two categories along the continuum. They also consider the effects of new technologies, as well as sociological, cultural, and historical factors since the 1960s that may have set the stage for new forms of violence. Further, they explain how personality, psychosis, and other qualities can meaningfully contribute to particular crimes, making for many different motives. Relying on their extensive clinical experience, and examination of writings and artwork by infamous serial killers, these experts offer many insights into the logic that drives horrible criminal behavior, and they discuss the hope that in the future such violence may be prevented.

Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime

The New Evil

Providing a cost-effective treatment model that is respectful of patients' needs, their strengths, and their limitations, this book presents the first dynamic and coherent approach to group treatment for the chronically mentally ill. By structuring members' variable attendance, the flexibly bound model, which utilizes group dynamic principles to maximize therapeutic opportunities, respects the actual behavior of many chronically ill persons, making this treatment format available to a broad portion of this population. Illustrated with numerous case vignettes, the book outlines the elements of supportive treatment and therapeutic goals and then describes in detail specific strategies and interventions.

Successful Outcome and Psychiatric Practice

The Fate of Borderline Patients

Dan J. Stein

Recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of obsessive- compulsive disorder have come from breakthroughs in neurobiologic and cognitive-behavioral studies. Essential Papers on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder represents the most significant thinkers and the various strands of thought on obsessive-compulsive disorder. Divided into three sections focusing on classical psychoanalysis, psychological research, and neuro-psychiatric approaches, this definitive volume includes contributions bythe most experienced and renowned experts on the subject. Contributors include Sigmund Freud; Karl Abraham; Ernest Jones; Anna Freud; Paul E. Sifneos; Leonard Salzman; Joseph Sandler and Anandi Hazari; Lewis L. Judd; Heinz Hartmann; Stanley Rachman, Ray Hodgson and Isaac M. Marks; Paul M. Salkovskis; Paul Schilder; Steven P. Wise and Judith L. Rapoport; Joseph Zohar and Thomas R. Insel; Michael A. Jenike; Susan E. Swedo, Henrietta Leonard; Lewis R. Baxter, Jeffrey M. Schwartz, Kenneth S. Bergman; Dan Stein and Eric Hollander.

Essential Papers on Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

In 1910, New York City was bursting at the seams as more and more people crowded into a limited supply of housing in the tenement districts of Manhattan and the older areas of Brooklyn. With no outlet for its exploding population, and the burgeoning social problems created by the overwhelming congestion, New York faced a serious crisis which city and state leaders addressed with dramatic measures. In March 1913, public officials and officers of the two existing rapid transit networks shook hands to seal a deal for a greatly expanded subway system which would more than double the size of the two existing transit networks. At the time the largest and most expensive single municipal project ever attempted, the Dual System of Rapid Transit set the pattern of growth in New York City for decades to come, helped provide millions of families a better quality of life, and, in the words of Manhattan borough president George McAneny (1910-1913), "proved the city's physical salvation." It stands as that rare success story, an enormously complicated project undertaken against great odds which proved successful beyond all measure. Published in conjunction with the History of the City of New York Project.

One Hundred Years at the Border

Essential Papers on Borderline Disorders

Meg Stone

William A. Sands

Aimed at strength and conditioning specialists, health and fitness professionals, personal trainers and exercise scientists, this research-based book details the physiological and biomechanical aspects of designing resistance training programmes for improved power, strength and perfomance in athletes.

Principles and Practice of Resistance Training

Essential Papers on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Escaping Eden brings together feminist biblical scholars to explore how aspects of social location such as gender, ethnicity, class, and religious background affect biblical interpretation. The volume combines feminist reading strategies with sustained methodological inquiry. Writing in a range of modes including historical and literary criticism, cultural studies, satirical fiction, and the personal essay, the contributors challenge the presumed objectivity of conventional biblical scholarship. Interrogating biblical authority, que(e)rying Jeremiah, exploring translation as a feminist act, and reclaiming texts as diverse as Genesis, Luke, and Philippians, Escaping Eden expands the usual boundaries of biblical academic discourse.

Michael H. Stone

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