ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at violence and sadism in children and adolescents. Psychoanalytic and developmental ideas are brought together to make sense of these children’s presentations and the clinical challenges of therapeutic work with them. Differences are outlined between cold forms of aggression, seen in callous-unemotional traits and psychopathic tendencies, as opposed to ‘hotter’ more reactive volatile and hyperactivated forms of violence and aggression. The contribution of Glasser and his concept of the core complex is outlined, as is an understanding of addictive processes often seen in aggression, including sexual aggression.
