CONGRATULATIONS FOR publishing “Battered women - men,’’ the factual op-ed by Cathy Young on domestic violence. Your courage in doing so makes one proud to live in Boston.
The distortions in the domestic violence area have been huge and damaging to men, women, and families as well as to truth and reason itself. In my research I have found that in the great majority of domestic violence cases one or both partners (usually both) suffer from severe substance dependence (not merely substance abuse), and a great proportion of the men involved suffer from untreated attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or bipolar disorder.
Also missing in domestic violence statistics is violence against children, which involves both genders, and indeed the perpetrator here is more likely to be maternal.
This op-ed was especially apropos following the killings this month of two major athletic figures - Steve McNair and Arturo Gatti - allegedly resulting from domestic violence from a girlfriend and a wife, respectively.
Dr. Arnold Robbins
Cambridge
The writer is a psychiatrist and is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine.
