At 35, despite his determination to be different from his parents, Jonathan Self found his life echoing theirs: he was a twice-divorced absent father with three young children, one in the UK and two in Australia. In this frank, moving and often funny memoir, Self documents his efforts to break the family mould and become a different kind of parent. Highly personal in its discussion of alcohol, drug and sexual abuse and filled with extraordinary characters and events, SELF ABUSE also tells a more universal story - a story about best intentions goig awry, of the pain of being separated from one's children, and of the deep impact parent's actions have on their children lives. Ultimately, SELF ABUSE is a story filled with love and hope.