PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION DURING PREGNANCY, BIRTH AND INFANCY

The effect of a parent's psychological disturbances during the perinatal period on the infant's mental health has been researched considerably in recent decades. This article presents some results of an investigation into parental mental health in the postnatal period. In one Danish municipality, it was found that about 6% of the birthgiving women had psychological disturbances that could possibly affect the mother-infant relationship and thereby create emotional problems for the infant now and in the future. The article further describes a model of psychological intervention, developed in ''The Birth Project in Rodovre' (Fodselsprojektet i Rodovre), which combines individual psychotherapy with the mothers and treatment of the mother-infant relationship in the family's own home. The methodological principles that motivate these treatments are discussed.