ABSTRACT
After a review of changing patterns in parenting in response to changes in the social-cultural milieu in which family life is embedded the focus will be on the changes that are nowadays taking place in the structure of the nuclear family. Violent and abusive behavior in children is not limited to overtly dysfunctional families. The treatment of these conditions ought not to be restricted to setting limits to the unacceptable behavior, rather the underlying self-disorder has to addressed, not only by the individual treatment of the child, but by helping the caretakers to create an emotional milieu that is therapeutic.
