The best books for understanding and protecting yourself from narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths

Martha Stout, Ph.D., 2006

This book helps you understand the many ways sociopaths can appear in your life. In fact, the book says that roughly one out of twenty-five people are a sociopath (a person without conscience or remorse). Stout helps us understand what a sociopath is and how they can wreak havoc in your life. What I especially like about this book is it really focuses on the non-violent aspects of sociopaths and the harm they cause. Finally, the book helps you understand how to deal (or rather, not deal) with a sociopath if you think you might have one in your life.

Gavin De Becker, 1999

I love this book because it really focuses on how our intuition protects us from evil and danger. It is incredibly empowering to feel like we can not only sense danger and harm before it happens to us, and de Becker (a renowned violence prevention expert) informs the reader on how we can cultivate and further understand the gift we all have within us- our gut feeling.

Debbie Mirza, 2017

While most people associate narcissism with grandiosity, Mirza puts the concept of covert and passive aggressive narcissism on the map. A lot of narcissists out there may not seem loud, aggressive, or attention seeking on the surface, but they possess the same traits and underlying motivations as grandiose narcissists- it just presents in a different way. This is a great read for someone who thinks they know an abusive and/or harmful person in their life, but they don’t quite fit the description of the grandiose narcissist that is most talked about.