A stressed state cannot be maintained indefinitely without serious mental and physical consequences. Extended or repeated periods of so-called hyper-arousal can cause changes in the neural system that are very difficult to reverse. It is therefore incomprehensible enough that any human being would feel compelled to abuse and distress another; but it is particularly difficult to understand such inhumanity when it occurs among those who would logically share similar needs, goals and values within the most fundamental group in society, the family.