A while back I wrote about emotions as weapons. Unfortunately, I have witnessed a great deal of anger as a form of bullying in the past several months.
After some time working with the wife in this couple, it became apparent that their son had symptoms of trauma as well. The father maintained visitation rights and the boy frequently went to visit. The boy began "acting out" at school; assaulting other children, bullying, raging and destroying property. It became apparent that the violence between the parents had been visited upon the son. Later, it also came out that the father had violently killed or abused many animals in front of the boy including shooting his pet horse in the head and forcing him to watch.
What professionals in various fields are beginning to understand is that violence in a family is rarely visited upon only one person. If a person abuses their child they probably don't have qualms about kicking the family pet. Someone who cannot control their temper or who uses anger to control and manipulate will usually have that pattern with most people and in multiple circumstances.
People in the helping professions (counselors, doctors, social workers) as well as those working in protective capacities (child protective services, animal welfare) are learning to probe more deeply and across venues when we intercept a case of violence. If the family is reported for child abuse we are learning to screen for domestic violence, animal abuse and elder abuse as well.
The website of the National Link Coalition can provide you with more information on this phenomenon. If you are in any of the social services or animal welfare fields I heartily recommend reading more about this. If you have a family member or friend who is living with someone who is violent it may be important to ask about all the members of the family, including family pets.