Don't play with your food....

“The Tiger will test you, he will growl, bare his teeth or make an imperceptible but swift move in your direction… He is probing you.  Monitoring you for signs of strength or weakness…. To determine whether you are trouble or, lunch!  You can not reason with him, you can not threaten him or you can not plead for mercy.  Your only chance of survival is to prove to him you are more trouble than you are worth.  If you manage that, he will turn and walk away without giving you a second glance.  If you can’t, your goose is cooked.  Well, eaten.

The Tiger’s cold assessment of your meal worthiness is the same as the one your psychopathic boss, workmate, relative or lover preformed on you within the first few seconds of meeting you.”  TAMING TOXIC PEOPLE by David Gillespie, 2017.

In 1955 Nicholas Ray released the world-famous film Rebel Without a Cause highlighting the perceived delinquency in American youth back then.  The director took then name from our book being reviewed with the same name by Dr Robert Lindner (1944). Lindner was a Consultant Psychotherapist who employed hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis to rehabilitate criminals.  Other respected doctors of his time including Dr Hervey Cleckley (Mask of Sanity), referred to Lindner’s work in the publications and papers. 

Lindner introduces us to Harold his young patient who is now in his early 20’s.  Harold has been diagnosed as a psychopath by Lindner and previous doctors.  This is not Harold’s first time in prison as he is a repeat offender.  As you read through the book Dr Lindner asks you to decide whether you feel the same as him about Harold.  Is he psychopathic?  Was he born this way or did his parent’s cause him to become a criminal? The book is split into distinct sections.  For example, you are told about Harold’s childhood and the domestic violence he witnessed, his past criminal activities including incarcerations, medical history, family dynamics etc.  When we assess an individual as to their risk or for clinical diagnosis, we tend to follow the same lines of enquiry today.  Session by session is recorded verbatim and then typed up by his secretary.  These are included within the book to help us build a picture of Harold and why he went of the rails. 

Dr Lindner never judges Harold but accepts what he says and tries to help him understand why he has become the person he is.  At times the material covered by this book can be very deep as Harold reveals killing a man and the various rapes and sexual assaults he has carried out.  However, these actions are revealed to the patient as harmful and wrong but with the emphasis on stopping any further instances.  We are also meet Perry his best friend who is bisexual.  Other instances of same sex relationships are discussed too.  Sex in general is spoken very openly about. 

One of the main things I enjoyed about this book was its openness and frankness but there was little judgement even in a time when it was common among mental health professionals to do so – a lesson for us today.  Although I don’t agree with hypnosis as a means of treatment, I do agree with Dr’s Glueck (introduction writers) who explained:

“ Penologists and prison psychiatrists usually content themselves with demanding that psychopaths be “segregated” so that the programme for the rest of the inmates may proceed more smoothly.  Dr. Lindner is one of the first prison workers in the world to go beyond such a programme of temporary convenience and probe skilfully and with illuminative insight into the psych of the most recalcitrant among criminals.” – page ix.

Dr Lindner himself at the end of his book also Has strong words for those who design prison’s and manage them around the world.  He explains that they do no one – society and the incarcerated – any good.  If you cage up someone all day with little education, physical activity, mental stimulation, therapy or rehabilitation then throw them back into the outside world with no housing, job or skills and expect them to be new people somehow changed – its not going to happen.  The figures on numerous scientific research papers or publish by governments prove this point beyond doubt.  Still – no one is listening to Dr Lindner and other’s like him (including myself).  That’s why people go back to a life of crime.  This is a fact – it is cheaper to rehabilitate than to carry on as we are.  Hiding away from something or hoping it will go away and be someone else’s problem never solved anything – not for the patient and not the clinician or politician. 

Tigers are beautiful animals who need respect, protection and preservation of them and their habitat.  On the other hand, Gillespie’s ‘tigers’ or psychopaths are dangerous individuals, to be avoided at all costs – you will not tame them!  Reading Dr Lindner’s book Rebel Without a Cause – The story of a criminal psychopath, has me asking, Is there a way we can tame these wild animals?

Rebel Without A Cause - The Story Of A Criminal Psychopath by Dr Robert M Lindner

ISBN: 978-159051-024-1 US $19.00/ CAN $22.00/ UK £10.00

OTHER PRESS LLC NEW YORK - 1944 / 1971 / 2003