The Criminal Personality: The Drug User, Volume III

By Stanton E. Samenow and Samuel Yochelson

Book Overview

'The third in a series explicating the criminal mind, this volume summarizes observations, interpretations, and conclusions derived from a study of 121 criminal men who used drugs and/or alcohol to excess. Originally set in writing by Yochelson before his death in 1976, the materials were edited and updated by Samenow for publication. Systematic, probing and repeated interviews were used as the vehicle for gathering information on common mental themes among men apprehended and sentenced for criminal acts.... Yochelson and Samenow attribute crime to a series of early irresponsible choices that predate drug use among drug-using criminals. Personality and personal choice variables are conceptualized as critical in initialing and maintaining use. In what is called an indiscriminate search for excitement, drug-using criminals are characterized as expanding their criminal repertoire while excusing their actions by rationalizations sometimes invented by sociologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Although these ideas are of considerable interest, the real value of the text lies in its intriguing presentation of drug-user thinking. Specifically, three chapters are well worth reading. The description of mental activities associated with such constructs as 'the high, ' 'the nod, ' and 'the rush' are probably on target for many drug users, whether criminal or not. The chapter explaining drugs as facilitators offers several notions worthy of systematic inquiry, as does the one devoted to principles for encouragement of behavior change. Of perhaps greatest benefit to most readers are caveats regarding management of drug users in what may be seen as a cognitive-behavioral framework. Yochelson and Samenow contend that drug-using criminal men represent the architects of their criminal life-styles and that it is they themselves who can correct irresponsible thoughts and behaviors through application of logic over emotion.' DContemporary Psychology A Jason Aroson Book

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568212445
• ISBN13: 9781568212449
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Jason Aronson
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Finally some straight talk about a tough subject!

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!