The Devil You Know: Stories of Human Cruelty and Compassion

Author(s) : Gwen Adshead, Author(s) : Eileen Horne

The Devil You Know: Stories of Human Cruelty and Compassion

Book Details

  • Publisher : Faber & Faber
  • Published : June 2021
  • Cover : Hardback
  • Pages : 368
  • Category :
    Popular Psychology
  • Category 2 :
    Forensic
  • Catalogue No : 95683
  • ISBN 13 : 9780571357604
  • ISBN 10 : 9780571357
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Serial homicide. Stalking. Arson. Gang crime. Who are the people behind these acts of terrible violence? What are their stories? And what is it like to sit opposite them? Dr Gwen Adshead is one of Britain's leading forensic psychiatrists, and she has spent thirty years providing therapy inside secure hospitals and prisons. Whatever her patient's crime she aims to help them to better know their minds by helping them to articulate their life experience. Through a collaboration with co-author Eileen Horne, Adshead brings her work to life in these fascinating, unflinching portraits of individuals who newspaper headlines, TV dramas and crime fiction label 'monsters'.

Case by case, Adshead takes us into the treatment room and reveals these men and women in all their complexity and vulnerability. She sheds new light on the unpredictable nature of the therapeutic process as doctor and patient try to find words for the unspeakable. These are stories of cruelty and despair but also of change and recovery. In a time of increasing polarisation, in the face of overcrowded prisons and devastating cuts to mental health care, Adshead speaks to our shared humanity and makes the case for compassion over condemnation, empathy over fear. The Devil You Know challenges what we think we know about evil. It is a rare book that has the power to change minds.

Reviews and Endorsements

'Exceptional.' - Val McDermid

'Gripping . . . and ultimately enlightening.' - Philippe Sands

'Extraordinary.' Sebastian Faulks

'A perspective-shattering work into the minds of violent criminals that reveals profound consequences for human nature and society at large'. - BBC Radio 4 and Observer Book of the Week.

'Brilliant . . . a powerful myth buster.' - Sunday Times

'The Devil You Know challenges what we think we know about evil. It is a rare book that has the power to change minds. 'Urgent and invaluable.' - David Lammy

About the Author(s)

Dr. Gwen Adshead is a leading psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Alongside her continuing work at Broadmoor Hospital as a Consultant Forensic Psychotherapist, where she runs psychotherapuetic groups for offenders, she also works in a medium secure unit in Hampshire. She has published a number of academic books and over one hundred papers. She was honoured with the President's Medal for services to psychiatry in 2013.

More titles by Gwen Adshead

Eileen Horne is an author, dramatist and former television producer. She has lectured widely at film festivals and universities across Europe, and is the author of several books.

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