NPR had an interesting discussion recently with journalist Jon Ronson, the author of a new book The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry.

The book uses the work of Dr. Robert Hare who developed the PCL-R to determine if people are psychopaths. I attended training with Dr. Hare some years ago and one of the things the professionals there taught us in terms of using the PCL-R was to be very well trained and to avoid using it frivolously. It is also important to use more than one test and other methods (such as third party interviews) when determining if one is a psychopath. But that aside, the book looks interesting.