FÍNISHED READING - The Devil You Know by Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne

This book was right up my street. A world renowned forensic psychologist recounts various types of supposedly  ' evil monstrous' people she has sat down with in therapeutic sessions - the serial killer, the delinquent, the pedophile, the mentally unhinged person who murdered their Father. And she expertly tells you the often tortuous and difficult process of enabling that person to reach the point of going beyond their own denial and evasions, to fully acknowledging their responsibility and the consequences for themselves and others, of their past actions.

For all the horror in what they did, these individuals remain human beings with a core conscience, however buried it may be beneath layers of denial, aversion and rationalisation. Adshead, has over the decades of practice, learned how it is to listen closely to the tone, the how and what they say, as indicators to where they might be in the process of self acknowledgement of their past actions. Whilst also paying attention to her own instinctual responses and reactions. That frequently point to the unknown elephant in the room, that underlies the facade they are presenting. A couple of patients curated a respectable and seemingly stable exterior behaviour, seeming to appear models of balanced self knowledg. But this somehow did not ring true. It was her task as the therapist to keep pushing them to towards whatever it was they were trying to evade. Why are they currently feeling uneasy, or so potentially suicidal, if everything is just so hunky dory?

One patient, a GP, self referred themselves, because they were depressed and sleeping badly. Their wife had recently left them, and there was evidently something up on a much deeper level. He'd agreed to a series of six sessions, but missed or was late to a lot of them. When he did come, he was quite abrasively self assertive, trying to take charge and direct the sessions. He wanted help, but entirely on his terms. Knowingly deflecting or mocking her questions. With every patient there comes a point which she calls that 'bike lock' moment, when one final turn unlocks and reveals the whole underlying issue. With the GP it was asking him why his wife had left him. It turned out she'd been aware for many years that he'd been viewing porn, but it was when she discovered it was child porn that she'd taken the kids and left him.

This is one of those books that lifts the veil on the complex mental gymnastics people put themselves through to avoid facing a truth. In this sense, regardless of their crime, it is a very human person that is revealed through therapy. It's about them fully acknowledging what they did, the pain, the regret. Without which it's impossible for anyone to move on. And this turns out to be eminently relatable for any relatively self aware human being. We all have our blind spots and self evasions, things we just cannot bring ourselves to fully confront. This book has such a lot to teach us all about human tenderness, and how we come to greater self awareness. The underlying legacy of these life histories, can be almost as shocking as the details of the heinous crime. How a perceived lack of love can have consequences further in later life. Only these particulars consequence turn out to be tragic for everyone involved.

CARROT REVIEW - 7/8