This brief offers understanding and insight into how to define, establish, and maintain personal safety to minimize risks of negative encounters with psychopaths. The author, through a behavioral science research lens sprinkled with autobiographical anecdotes, details causes of psychopathy, links between crime and psychopathy, and focuses particular attention on strategies and preventative measures that individuals who encounter psychopathic others can employ to assert their own personal mental and physical well-being.

¿Robert Henley Woody is a professor of psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (teaching forensic, school, and social psychology) and is in the private practice of law in Omaha. His degrees include a PhD from Michigan State University, a ScD from the University of Pittsburgh, and a JD from Creighton University School of Law. He is a licensed psychologist in Florida and Michigan and also a member of the Florida, Michigan, and Nebraska bars. He has been named a diplomat in clinical psychology, forensic psychology, ABPP, and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. He has authored or edited 34 books and written approximately 200 chapters and articles for professional journals. His primary research interests are in the areas of forensic psychology, law enforcement, school psychology, family and sex therapy, and group therapy.