Why did families in the past request that some of their members be forcibly removed from their midst and locked away? What social conditions lay behind the drama of enforced removal and confinement that was played out between family members and their unruly relatives?

Through their analysis of thousands of case histories in Brabant and Flanders the authors are able to shed light on the material and emotional survival strategies of the growing number of urban families who were requesting the confinement of one of their own members, and to relate those personal decisions to the changes taking place within the urban communities. Disordered Lives is a penetrating study of rebellious youths, adulterous women, alcoholics and violent husbands.

In contrast to other 'troublemakers' who have left no trace, these ones have made history. They showed their contemporaries and later generations where the limits of the permissible lay - and why.