The Perversion of Virtue: Understanding Murder-Suicide
"Psychologist and Guggenheim Fellow Joiner offers in-depth analyses and real-life examples, placing 'true murder-suicides' in four categories--'mercy, justice, duty, and glory'--while two other categories cover related acts involving both murder and suicide.  In addition to psychological and evolutionary research, Joiner draws from the Bible, Shakespeare, Thomas Aquinas, and elsewhere. This important study could save lives, and Joiner's suggestion for mental health professionals to engage patients on the topic of virtue is well-founded." -Publishers Weekly"If you want to really understand suicide, anything Thomas Joiner says is worth listening to.  To have a book on murder-suicide by him is an enormous contribution.  Not only is it chock-full of science, but the science is imbedded in compassion-and compassion is surely needed to understand both suicide and murder-suicide." -Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, and Director, Behavioral Research & Therapy Clinics (BRTC), University of Washington"The Perversion of Virtuecombines Dr. Joiner's remarkable expertise with a critical analysis and logic for understanding murder-suicide.  Readers will find his arguments provocative, explanatory, and elegantly stated." -Timothy W. Lineberry, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Mayo Clinic"In the scholarly, penetrating, and thought-provoking manner that we have come to expect from Dr. Joiner, this important book examines the disturbing and largely misunderstood topic of murder-suicide. Penned by one of the most innovative and insightful intellectual leaders in contemporary psychology,The Perversion of Virtueis an absolute must-read for anyone remotely interested in this tragic, complex, and fascinating topic." -David A. Jobes, PhD, ABPP, Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of Clinical Training, Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of America"Cases of murder-suicide do occur quite frequently around the world. Surprisingly, the literature on the topic is scarce and far from providing a unifying reading of these terrible human tragedies. As he beautifully did for suicide, Dr. Joiner provides another very lucid example of systematic theory-building on a complex matter. The result is a compelling volume, an essential reference for those who may have an interest for the many peculiarities of such extreme behaviors." -Professor Diego De Leo, MD, PhD, AO, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University