Battered Wives and Battered Children

Freudian psychiatry first called attention to the dynamic tension that exists in the mind because of psychic structures with strong and sometimes divergent pulls, acting at times with each other, at times against each other. \Vith the aid of the theoretical division of psyche into Id, Ego, and Superego, we came to some understanding of why passions erupt, violence flares, dntructin, ' patterns repeat themselves. Psvchiatrv later became aware of interactions between individuals and othe~s- fa~1ily dynamics, group dynamics, mob dynamics. The concept of s:stems living in d:'namic tension with each other, derived from physics and applied to the individu~ll and then to groups by psychoanalytic theory, has nnw been seen as applicable to the whole constellation of forces and systems which make up our world, but psychoanalysis has not been given enough credit as a precursor of systems theory. The major emphasis in psychiatry h~lS continued to be the restoration of the equilibrium of the organism- or providing that organism its first experience of equilibrium- through the:lpproach of depth psychology. Through this study method we achieved