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Quote:Considered a revolutionary study of psychopathy upon its initial publication in 1941, Hervey Cleckley's The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues about the So-Called Psychopathic Personality offers useful insight into the affliction almost eighty years later. Faced with a poor understanding of psychopathy throughout society as well as the legal and psychiatric community, Dr. Cleckley hoped to identify the common symptoms of psychopaths and improve their treatment options. Working in a psychiatric hospital, he routinely saw individuals who were arrested for committing some petty crime, feigned insanity or bluffed at suicide to escape legal consequences for psychiatric institutions, then convincingly demonstrated apparently sound minds and above-average intelligence in order to effect their discharge from the hospital, only to commit further crimes and repeat the entire process all over again. Cleckley aspired to break this cycle by categorizing the characteristic traits of the psychopathic personality so that such individuals could be recognized by judges and psychiatrists alike, while simultaneously advocating for a reform of the medicolegal system that would enforce treatment at the discretion of a psychopath's physician. Given that questions of legal insanity are prevalent in modern criminal trials, these concerns remain relevant today.

The most useful part of Cleckley's book is the 200 pages devoted to case studies of psychopathic patients observed under his care. These portraits form a cohesive profile of the psychopath as an otherwise intelligent individual with a startling inability to pursue long-term goals or act with consequences in mind. They lie on a whim, steal paltry sums of money, drink to excess, pursue frequent sexual encounters without affection and generally have no comprehension that their actions are harmful or troubling to those around them. Cleckley refreshingly refrains from sensationalism in these pages. Despite popular culture's depiction of the conscience-less serial killer, the psychopaths Cleckley encounters may threaten violence, but rarely (if ever) carry out regular acts of serious brutality. The cases described in these pages may have no moral compass, but they also lack the foresight required to pursue any far-reaching act of grave consequence.

At times however, Cleckley's work offers unfortunate reminders of the era in which it was written. Much of his psychological analysis is couched in Freudian interpretations, like the Oedipus complex. A chapter on "Sexual Deviation" is filled with outdated and offensive depictions of homosexuality. And of course, there has been significant progress in psychology in general and the study of psychopathy in particular since The Mask's publication. Yet as a whole, the book offers a thorough depiction of the psychopathic personality that is likely to stand the test of time. For readers like me looking for a basic introduction to the subject, Cleckley's book serves its purpose as a clarification of psychopathic behavior.