The Criminal Personality: The Drug User

I first became familiar with Yochelson's and Samenow's work at a seminar on adolescent offenders. I got a copy of Samenow's 'Inside the Criminal Mind' and as I began to read it, mental light bulbs of recognition started poping off in my mind. But that book wasn't enough for me because it was more for the lay reader and I needed something more in-depth. I decided I would go to the source material for that book,The Criminal Personality. This monumental three volumn piece of work turns previous thinking and theory on its ear with regard to treating the crimminal offender, hence it is controversial. I started with Vol III--The Drug User because that is what I do -- treat adolescent offenders with chemical dependency issues. What I discovered was a method of working with this population which differed significantly from more traditional treatment approaches with normal populations. And I found it was more effective in establishing rapport and doing real work from the start! True criminals think differently than most others. Their use of anger, violence, sexual pursuits and drugs are for the most part pre-meditated and are used to satisfy or feed into their powerlust. It is their thinking which is grossly distorted (the Doctors list 52 identifiable distortions in Vol. I) yet all the while remaining rooted in reality that drives their actions. This book describes in detail how first Dr. Yochelson and later Dr. Samenow came to these realizations while working at St. Elizabeth's in Washington D.C.with the "criminaly insane". A term they came to discount in large part. What is presented is a systematic, matter-of-fact confrontation (not judgemental)of these thinking errors stressing honesty in all things, assumption of responsibility for all actions, and a highly disciplined structure that offers little or no retreat into the offender's rationalizations, his "victimization" in the past or his ego-centric view of the world. If you are ready to get serious about providing effective treatment, or are a frustrated professional in the Criminal Justice system, a legislator, a State's Attorney, in law enforcement, or a sitting judge in Drug Court, this book is a must read!