Between a rock and a hard place: Where do we go from here in defining psychological maltreatment?

Including our own (McGee & Wolfe, 1991), there are 13 articles in this volume on psychological maltreatment — and there appear to be 13 different opinions regarding the subject. Psychological maltreatment and its measurement are controversial topics. We were delighted that our article served to stimulate such thoughtful discussion. Unfortunately, there are several instances in the critiques where we were quoted out of context or our arguments were misconstrued. We do not have the space to deal with every such instance; rather, we will respond to the general themes arising from the articles. The first theme concerns the role of research on psychological maltreatment in the social policy process. The second theme deals with assumptions regarding measurement. We provide a brief description of our own research efforts in an effort to illustrate how we are dealing with the problems inherent in our definition.