Jessica Alfieri

writes everything you see here.

• Description Formerly Reserved for Serial Killers

  Jul 7, 2008 tagged as dogs, joan crawford, leona helmsley, serial killers, sociopaths

  Leona Helmsley and Joan Crawford aren’t sociopaths anymore; they’re examples of everyman.

  The field of psychotherapy has traditionally viewed those whose closest relationships are with animals as somehow lacking, their affections pathologically misplaced, their devotion a symptom of their inability to forge healthy connections with the humans around them.

  But now,

  “There are whole segments of the population that prefer being in the company of dogs than people, and I’m not sure that’s such a negative thing,” said Joel Gavriele-Gold, a psychoanalyst in private practice in Manhattan and the author of “When Pets Come Between Partners.”

  So $12 million to a dog is supposed to be sane?