A long time ago, a therapist I saw to help me cope with depression and my dysfunctional family had me read "People of the Lie: the Hope for Healing Human Evil" by M. Scott Peck. It helped me to understand that only God could heal some of what was wrong in my childhood family and to move on to a healthier environment in the meantime.

Though I have some reservations about the author's credentials, I recently re-read the book and found its description of evil as chillingly accurate in describing to a "T" a particular relative who makes me so upset and crazy that I feel ill around her. I love her and I feel terribly sorry for her but I feel inexplicably repulsed by her. I feel sad, drained, confused and exhausted after being around her or talking to her on the phone.

It has been years since I have had a genuine, reciprocal conversation with her that didn't involve extreme emotional manipulation or deceit. Whenever I try to honestly discuss what is wrong with our relationship she twists my words around to such a degree that I can't think straight. I'm automatically tagged as the bad one. Though her values and morals are largely skewed, she is extremely smart and sly in maintaining an air of Christian respectability when it serves her well, so there are only a few people who know what I am going through.

Unfortunately she is very seriously, physically ill and now in a wheelchair, which only increases her ability to manipulate and exploit. My husband and I would like to cut all ties with her or move. But that would be easier said than done and could seriously hurt others we care about, leaving them in a terrible lurch, so it is a cross we choose to bear for now.

I realize I cannot assign a diagnosis to what is going on with her, but I wonder if I would be inappropriately judging her if I looked to Peck's book for understanding and help. If you have read "People of the Lie" what do you think of it? Do you agree that evil can be a psychiatric illness?