This timely book not only helps readers free themselves from controlling people but also seeks to explain the occurrence of verbal abuse, battering, stalking, harassment, hate crimes, gang violence, tyranny, terrorism, and territorial invasion.

What the author calls a "compelling force" overcomes these controllers; because they sense the overwhelming "psychic pain, distress, and discord permeating the world," they must impose a twisted kind of order on their friends, lovers, and acquaintances. Often people with good intentions end up doing the opposite of what they would need to do to realize a goal or fulfill a need. 352 pages. Softcover. 2002.