Everyone has heard of the "battered wife" - the innocent victim of someone else's violence. But not every woman who suffers physical or mental abuse is simply a victim. In the authors' long work experience, there are countless women - and men - who are actually "prone to violence". These are the unfortunate victims of their own deep-seated addiction to violence.

They learn to use violence as a strategy for survival from the early moments of their abused childhoods. The ability to find pleasure in pain is all part of their tragic inheritance.

This book discusses the grim addiction behind all other addictions, and draws on ten years of fieldwork among people who carry with them from birth the seeds of their own destruction.

The case histories are taken from all walks of life - while gross physical abuse occurs more often in working-class families, the sophisticated mental violence of the middle classes can be far more damaging and long-lasting.

This book is for anyone who wants to explore this critical area of human relationships. Hopefully it does not merely expose the roots of a problem, but also attempts to find some solutions.