“Patric Gagne realized she made others uncomfortable before she started kindergarten. Something about her caused people to react in a way she didn’t understand. She suspected it was because she didn’t feel things the way other kids did. Emotions like fear, guilt, and empathy eluded her. For the most part, she felt nothing. And she didn’t like the way that “nothing” felt.
She did her best to pretend she was like everyone else, but the constant pressure to conform to a society she knew rejected anyone like her was unbearable. So Patric stole. She lied. She was occasionally violent. She became an expert lock-picker and home-invader. All with the goal of replacing the nothingness with…something.”  — publisher’s description

Join a group of enthusiastic readers to discuss great memoirs of significance to the broad field education! Our third Book Club choice for the Spring Semester is SocioPath, by Patric Gagne (New York : Simon and Schuster, 2024). This New York Times bestseller tells of the author’s journey to understand her mental condition and how she found love and hope, leading to her desire to help others.

Patric Gagne is a writer, former therapist, and advocate for people suffering from sociopathic, psychopathic, and anti-social personality disorders. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology with a dissertation that examined the relationship between sociopathy and anxiety. This research became the groundwork for her continued studies on sociopathic disorder, as well as the foundation for her memoir. She did her undergraduate work at UCLA and earned her masters and doctorate at the California Graduate Institute of The Chicago School.

Book Club is co-sponsored by the Graduate Writing Center. It meets once a month throughout the semester, with a program for three memoirs, and is open to all students and staff. The first eight people to rsvp will receive a free copy.

Where: 305 Russell