It is clear that physical abuse is an integral component of some intimate relationships. This book addresses not the violence but our responses or lack of responses to that violation of personal integrity and the accompanying trauma. How partner violence is responded to, individually and collectively, may well determine whether the violence can be prevented or will cease once begun.
This text is intended to serve as a basic resource for the student, clinician and researcher. It provides a summary of how we have responded to such violence in the past and presents potential future directions for research and prevention efforts.

The Definition and Epidemiology of Intimate Partner Violence.- Theories of Causation.- How Women and Men Define Experiences of Violence and its Causes.- Violence as Deviance? The Societal Response.- Responses of the Helping Professions.- The Legal Response.- Responses of the Batterer.- Responses of the Battered.- Children Exposed to Partner Violence: Their Responses.- Looking towards the Future: Research, Prevention, and the Provision of Services.