There is only one way to deal with a psychopath and that is never, ever to get involved with one, which is easier said than done because, regardless of the endless havoc they wreak around them, they are virtually invisible to their targets. When you have something they want - which is invariably money, power or access to something else they want - they mold their behaviors and attitudes exactly to your own. They come across as your ideal companion. They are gifted, almost uncanny, readers of character. It is only when they have captured you that their mask begins to slip, and even then their blizzard of lies can still fool you for years. So how do you recognize a psychopath? There is a formal twenty-point check list, developed by Dr. Robert Hare, you could use, but most aspects of their personalities will be hidden from you initially. However, there is one thing they cannot disguise because it is essential to their way of operating: They will claim to be the most ill-treated and ill-starred person you have ever met, and none of this mistreatment or misfortune will be in any way their fault. If they have targeted you, it will be because you are a compassionate person and the way into you is therefore to solicit your sympathy, which, in this instance, is very much better reserved for yourself. Then you may begin to notice that they are more impetuous and thrill seeking than anyone else you know, and have an insatiable desire to buy things few people can afford. This is Tim Merchant's detailed account of living over twenty years with a psychopath, and it is important because, unless you have actually lived with one yourself, they do not appear to behave the way you would expect a psychopath to behave - until they do. And if you should happen to hook up with one, do not blame yourself: They are landmines anyone can step on and subsequently wonder why their lives and their other relationships are being inexorably blown to bits.