Paul Williams is a training and supervising analyst with The British Psychoanalytical Society and a member of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He was a consultant psychotherapist in the British National Health Service, retiring in 2010. From 2001-2007 he was Joint Editor-in-Chief, with Glen O. Gabbard, of the 'International Journal of Psychoanalysis'. He has published widely on the subject of severe disturbance. He lives and practises in Hampshire, UK.

• Preface -- Introduction -- The nature and function of aggression -- Discussion of Donald Campbell's paper -- Which violence and whose violence? Questions arising in the psychotherapy of aggressive children -- Discussion of Anne Alvarez's paper -- Violence to body and mind: treating patients who have killed -- Discussion of Carine Minne's paper -- The interpretation of violence -- Discussion of James Gilligan's paper -- From action to communication: the transformation of aggression in childhood -- Aggression and violence in adolescence -- Discussion of Marianne Parsons' paper -- The perverse fascination of destructiveness" -- Discussion of Paola Capozzi and Franco De Masi's paper -- Aggression: social and political aspects -- Discussion of Lord Alderdice's paper -- Plenary session -- Closing remarks by Philip McGarry