Books

Violence in the workplace has risen to “epidemic” proportions according to the Centers of Disease Control. In this volume, Dr. Marc McElhaney, a specialist in workplace violence, presents a comprehensive guide that no manager can do without when having to prepare for these potentially dangerous and often disruptive events. These are situations that often seem to explode in the workplace without warning, when in fact, they have often long incubated outside the manager’s awareness. Utilizing a risk management approach that focuses on the process of how these situations evolve, as opposed to an oversimplified presentation of “profiles”, will provide the manager with the needed tools to prevent and effectively intervene, to ensure a safe and cost-effective resolution. This book takes a comprehensive view that covers the broad range of aggression control strategies that an organization can utilize, from the fundamental building blocks of a primary prevention program to specific techniques that the manager can use to defuse and stabilize situations that are already threatening to explode. In between, the author presents a step-by-step description of the assessment and intervention process that should occur when and if an organization is faced with a potentially dangerous set of circumstances. Specific high-risk situations, such as employee termination, are discussed in detail, along with strategies that Dr. McElhaney has found to be particularly effective when having to stabilize, control and ultimately ensure a safe and long-lasting conclusion. Utilizing an approach that combines his knowledge and experience from the fields of threat assessment, risk management, conflict resolution and crisis negotiation, the author focuses on an approach that not only addresses the organization’s immediate needs, but which also strives for a resolution and management plan that addresses long-term safety concerns.

Marc McElhaney, PhD

Grandiosity and exaggerated self-worth. Pathological lying. Manipulation. Lack of remorse. Shallowness. Exploitation for financial gain. These are the qualities of Almost Psychopaths. They are not the deranged criminals or serial killers that might be coined “psychopaths” in the movies or on TV. They are spouses, coworkers, bosses, neighbors, and people in the news who exhibit many of the same behaviors as a full-blown psychopath, but with less intensity and consistency.

In Almost a Psychopath, Ronald Schouten, MD, JD, and James Silver, JD, draw on scientific research and their own experiences to help you identify if you are an Almost Psychopath and, if so, guide you to interventions and resources to change your behavior.

If you think you have encountered an Almost Psychopath, they offer practical tools to help you: recognize the behavior, attitudes, and characteristics of the Almost Psychopath; make sense of interactions you’ve had with Almost Psychopaths; devise strategies for dealing with them in the present; make informed decisions about your next steps; and learn ways to help an Almost Psychopath get better control of their behavior.

The Almost Effect Series presents books written by Harvard Medical School faculty and other experts that offer guidance on common behavioral and physical problems falling in the spectrum between normal health and a full-blown medical condition. These are the first publications to help general readers recognize and address these problems.

Randy Borum
David Verhaagen
226 pages. Published in 2006

Highly practical and accessible, this is an indispensable resource for any mental health practitioner working with youth at risk for violent behavior. Presented is a comprehensive framework for evaluating juveniles in the justice system or those whose behavior in school, therapy sessions, or other contexts raises concern about violence. Detailed case examples illustrate the authors’ scientifically grounded approach to selecting appropriate instruments, analyzing and communicating assessment results, and designing effective interventions. Special problems addressed include bullying, sexual aggression, fire setting, and homicide. The book also examines the development of aggressive conduct problems and their connections to other emotional and behavioral disorders.

Published 2002, 239 pages

This one of a kind book provides information on how to conduct investigative interviews with children who have witnessed a homicide or other violent crime. The second part of the book discusses counseling children who have seen violent crimes. Forensically sound techniques, interview processes, environment, are all discussed. The author, Tascha Boychuk-Spears, has interviewed or counseled over 3000 children and is considered the foremost expert in the field.

“Enormously instructive and without a doubt a must for criminal justice and mental health professionals” Lt. Brad Simpson, MFT, Las Vegas Metro Police Dept.

“Gripping… the first book of its kind by one of the foremost authorities on children who witness homicide” Caryl Ainley, Ph.D., Psychologist, former clinical director Children’s Advocacy Center of Phoenix

“Dr. Spears has presented an excellent resource for persons functioning in the fields of law enforcement, child protection services, mental health, education and corrections. With devastating clarity, Spears has unveiled the suffering of children touched by violence.” Det. Donald Morris, NYPD

Chapter titles:
Prologue: Entering the World of Children’s Grief
Chapter 1. Foundations of Investigative Interviews
Chapter 2. When the Basic Principles Don’t Work
Chapter 3. Interviews With Preschool Children: Two Dynamic Cases
Chapter 4. Investigating Child Deaths in Foster Care
Chapter 5. Child Witnesses in Cold Case Homicides
Chapter 6. Managing Active Children During Interviews
Chapter 7. Children’s Accuracy in Describing Homicide of a Family Members: Preliminary Research Findings
Chapter 8. Children Who Witness Domestic Violence
Chapter 9. Child Abductions: Victims and Witnesses
Chapter 10: Charley and Sammy: The Quiet Children
Chapter 11: Grief and Trauma: Counseling Children Who Witness Severe Violence
Chapter 12. Compassion Fatigue
Epilogue, References, Recommended Books

This book takes readers through the process of threat assessment and threat management from start to finish. The book first looks at intended violence and discusses the paths that all intended violence takes. It follows with identifying individuals of violent intent, evaluating those individuals and the threat they present, investigations and two chapters on managing…

In his latest collection of essays for forensic psychologists, Brodsky offers lessons and advice to mitigate the vulnerability psychologists may feel on the witness stand. More than 50 brief essays teach about the typical techniques attorneys use to challenge experts’ credibility and the basis of their opinions.

Stanley Brodsky, Ph.D.
Published in 2004, 249 pages

-Marc Ackerman, Ph.D.
Published in 1997, 206 pages

Divorce is tough for everyone involved, but it can be especially devastating for children. Ultimately, how children are affected depends on how parents conduct themselves during this trying time. Dr. Ackerman coaches you on every aspect of the divorce, custody and co-parenting process. You’ll learn how to help your children deal with their feelings about divorce, and handle the changes in their lives. You’ll also get a wealth of practical information on what to expect in the legal process, the ins and outs of various custody arrangements and visitation plans, and how to avoid the pitfalls of parenting from a distance.

Quotes: “…gives clear, practical guidelines to all parents who are wrestling with the pangs of separation and divorce.” – Lita Linzer Schwartz, Ph.D., ABPP

Written by the Personality Assessment Inventory author, Essentials of PAI Assessment provides the fundamentals of administration and interpretation of the PAI in an easy-to-use format. It also offers more advanced user tips and insights for combining different types of information provided by the test.

Essentials of PAI Assessment, Leslie C. Morey, 256 pages

394 pages, published in 1999.

While a few more resources exist now then ten years ago, literature on female sexual abusers is still meager.  Female abuser typologies are in flux, motivations rely more on assumptions than research results. Treatment modalities continue to be adapted from those used with men, and treatment outcomes remain undocumented.  Every step we take to add to our knowledge of these hidden abusers is a step toward a safer society.

Female Sexual Abusers: Three Views is one such step, or perhaps more accurately, three. Drs. Davin Davin, Dunbar, and Hislop look at different aspects of female sexual abusers.  Their rigorous, detailed research provides a deeper understanding of why woman abuse. Beginning with extensive literature reviews, their examination of women who abuse ranges from the characteristics of co-offenders, to factors in etiology of offending for women, to comparisons of psycho-social histories of women abusers and non-offending women in the same milieus.

A good but slightly dated book on this emerging topic.

Handbook of Violence Risk Assessment, Otto & Douglas

The Handbook of Violence Risk Assessment, Second Edition, builds on the first edition’s comprehensive discussion of violence risk assessment instruments with an update of research on established tools and the addition of new chapters devoted to recently developed risk assessment tools.

Featuring chapters written by the instrument developers themselves, this handbook reviews the most frequently used violence risk assessment instruments—both actuarial and structured professional judgment—that professionals use to inform and structure their judgments about violence risk. Also included are broader chapters that address matters such as the consideration of psychopathy and how the law shapes violence risk assessment.

Already the primary reference for practitioners, researchers, and legal professionals in this area, this second edition’s easy-to-access, comprehensive, and current information will make it an indispensable reference for those in the field.

2020, 474 pages

Insider Threat: Detection, Mitigation, Deterrence and Prevention presents a set of solutions to address the increase in cases of insider threat. This includes espionage, embezzlement, sabotage, fraud, intellectual property theft, and research and development theft from current or former employees. This book outlines a step-by-step path for developing an insider threat program within any organization, focusing on management and employee engagement, as well as ethical, legal, and privacy concerns. In addition, it includes tactics on how to collect, correlate, and visualize potential risk indicators into a seamless system for protecting an organization’s critical assets from malicious, complacent, and ignorant insiders. Insider Threat presents robust mitigation strategies that will interrupt the forward motion of a potential insider who intends to do harm to a company or its employees, as well as an understanding of supply chain risk and cyber security, as they relate to insider threat.

234 pages, published in 2016

396 pages, published in 1993, 2005
Howard E. Barbaree and William L. Marshall

While there has been an extraordinary amount of published research and theory on sexual assault by adult male offenders, little has been written about the juvenile or adolescent offender. Filling in a gap in the literature, this comprehensive volume provides a detailed examination of the juvenile offender and what is known about the development of sexually assaultive behavior.

Chapter Headings:

Chapter 1: Sexual Assault in Society: The Role of the Juvenile Offender

Chapter 2: Legal Responses to the Juvenile Sex Offender

Chapter 3: Exploring Characteristics for Classifying Juvenile Sex Offenders

Chapter 4: Where does Sexuality Come From? Normative Sexuality from a Developmental Perspective

Chapter 5: Sexual Assault through the Life Span: Adult Offenders with Juvenile Histories

Chapter 6: Pavlovian Conditioning Processes in Adolescent Sex Offenders

Chapter 7: The Phylogenetic and Ontogenetic Development of Sexual Age Preferences in Males: Conceptual and Measurement Issues

Chapter 8: The Importance of Attachment Bonds in the Development of Juvenile Sex Offending

Chapter 9: Adolescent Sexual Aggression within Heterosexual Relationships: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Causes

Chapter 10: The Relationship Between Substance Use and Abuse and Sexual Offending in Adolescents

Chapter 11: The Conduct Disorders and the Juvenile Sex Offender

Chapter 12: The Developmentally Disabled Adolescent Sex Offender

Chapter 13: Treatment of the Juvenile Sex Offender within the Criminal Justice and Mental Health Systems

Chapter 14: Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of the Juvenile Sex Offender

Chapter 15: The Pharmacological Treatment of the Adolescent Sex Offender

Chapter 16: Relapse Prevention with Sexually Aggressive Adolescents and Children: Expanding Treatment and Supervision

Managing Suicidal Risk: A Collaborative Approach, Second Edition, provides a thorough introduction to the use of the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicide (CAMS) protocol. Experienced clinicians might easily incorporate the SSF-4 and associated CAMS materials into their practice with suicidal patients. Reproducible Suicide Status Forms and other CAMS materials are provided in the manual….A complete case example featuring one of Jobes’s own former patients is interwoven throughout the manual….Provides a clear and flexible framework for the treatment of suicidal behavior in outpatient settings. Jobes offers an evidence-based treatment framework which was seemingly co-authored with his many patient-survivors of suicide over years of research and treatment. The manual provides important updates to the first edition which have resulted from rigorous evaluation of the CAMS model. With research support for CAMS growing, the second edition of Managing Suicidal Risk: A Collaborative Approach may become a relied-upon reference in the toolkit of clinicians and allied professionals who serve suicidal patients. (Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy)

-John Douglas
384 pages, published in 1995.

Summary: Mind Hunter describes the distinguished career of former F.B.I. agent John Douglas. The text follows Douglas from the beginning of his F.B.I. career, through the pionering of criminal profiling and the forming of the F.B.I.’s Behavioral Science Unit. Douglas describes the infamous cases he was involved with, as well as, the profiling techniques he helped pioneer. He discusses the serial offenders that he interviewed over the years. Their methods, techniques and their motivation for the commission of their offenses. Perhaps most importantly, Douglas helps the reader to begin to make sense of the horrendous nature of the crimes of serial killers.

Comments: This text would best be described as a memoir. One that goes into great length to describe the final output of one law enforcement agent’s outstanding career dealing with and attempting to understand the nature of the serial offender. I found it to be a very fascinating read. (STS staff)