EMPATHY — the capacity to feel the emotions of others as one’s own — is the glue that binds people. It’s the psychological software that allows us to worry about a friend’s economic troubles across the country or cry at a movie. It’s also one major reason humans extend themselves …

I have written before that there is no original evil left in the world; everyone is just recycling pain. Ariel Castro was, of course, wrong when he claimed, bizarrely, Thursday that there was “harmony” in the house where he kept three women hostage, repeatedly beating and raping them. But he …

Headlines about predators like Anthony Sowell, whose “House of Horrors” in Cleveland contained the remains of at least 11 victims, are evidence that too many people put themselves in harm’s way by interacting with dangerous individuals. I’ve evaluated and treated murderers, kidnappers and rapists — and know some of the …