ABSTRACT
Anyone who treats families and couples knows of the deep satisfactions and measureless sacrifices of family life, and also of the hurts and emotional injuries that closely related people can infl ict on one another. In most families ch i l - d ren are treasured and cared for, yet in some families ch i ld ren are neglected, over-indulged, d iscr iminated against, exploited, seduced, persecuted, and occasionally k i l l ed . Some marriages encourage growth and enr ich peoples ' l ives, yet husbands and wives are also capable of creat ing a whole range of miseries for each other, ranging from loneliness in marriage, bitter frustration, cruelty, degrading conflicts, to spouse murde r or wait ing for each other to die. Wh i take r has said, " . . . marriages end up dr iving some people mad, pushing others into homic ida l and suicidal acts, produc ing hateful demons out of perfectly nice people, and i n - duc ing alcohol ism in others" (Whitaker and K e i t h , 1977, p. 69).
