"Some books do make a difference, and this is one of them. With knowledge and compassion, Salomonsson addresses how to help troubled parents and infants. The theoretical framework is psychoanalytic, integrated with research findings from various fields that may explain emotional states. He creates a comprehensive theory about the unique characteristics of the perinatal period, and provides rich clinical examples from work with mothers, fathers and babies, from pregnancy and through early infancy to toddlerhood. He also discusses how the external world and the therapists internal world impact therapeutic work. These are complex issues, but Salomonsson writes in a way that draws the reader in to join him, his mentors and his patients in their explorations."-Tessa Baradon, Consultant, Anna Freud Centre, London; Visiting Adjunct Professor, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
"Bjorn Salomonssons excellent book is at the crossroads of four disciplines: neurosciences, obstetrics, neonatology and psychoanalysis. Through significant clinical examples, it deepens the understanding of the emotional turmoil raised by an infants birth, and simultaneously proposes precise and elaborate theoretical developments for investigation in this new field. It also describes in detail how a psychotherapist should find his/her place in every unit of neonatology, both to teach the health care team and to help the families with their newborn."-Florence Guignard, Training analyst of the Paris Society and Past President of the COCAP/IPA.
"The undeniable benefit of early psychotherapeutic interventions for infants and parents has come as a surprise to us all. Bjorn Salomonsson takes us on a riveting journey into the depths of his unique therapeutic work with babies and parents, beginning in the prenatal period and moving to the early postnatal development. He presents an astutely designed panoply of rich case reports and deep insights into psychoanalytic thinking against a sound backdrop of empirical research. With conceptual clarity and coherence, he bridges the clinical and scientific arenas, offering an excellent foundation both for therapeutic work and future research efforts."-Kai von Klitzing, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, President of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH).
"A masterful, much needed and highly readable exposition of this flourishing field. The authors compelling clinical vignettes, that include his own emotional and counter-transference exchanges, bring to life his helpful formulations that bring forward new clinical knowledge and research. The book not only builds on his own consulting experiences in a Swedish health care context, but reviews work in other contexts, including clinical trials there and elsewhere. Wonderfully, the book also offers links to couples and family work as psychoanalysis is increasingly recognized as a two-person and relational psychology."-Robert N. Emde, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado; Honorary President, World Association of Infant Mental Health.
"Some books do make a difference, and this is one of them. With knowledge and compassion, Salomonsson addresses how to help troubled parents and infants. The theoretical framework is psychoanalytic, integrated with research findings from various fields that may explain emotional states. He creates a comprehensive theory about the unique characteristics of the perinatal period, and provides rich clinical examples from work with mothers, fathers and babies, from pregnancy and through early infancy to toddlerhood. He also discusses how the external world and the therapists internal world impact therapeutic work. These are complex issues, but Salomonsson writes in a way that draws the reader in to join him, his mentors and his patients in their explorations."
Tessa Baradon, Consultant, Anna Freud Centre, London; Visiting Adjunct Professor, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
"Bjorn Salomonssons excellent book is at the crossroads of four disciplines: neurosciences, obstetrics, neonatology and psychoanalysis. Through significant clinical examples, it deepens the understanding of the emotional turmoil raised by an infants birth, and simultaneously proposes precise and elaborate theoretical developments for investigation in this new field. It also describes in detail how a psychotherapist should find his/her place in every unit of neonatology, both to teach the health care team and to help the families with their newborn."
Florence Guignard, Training analyst of the Paris Society and Past President of the COCAP/IPA.
"The undeniable benefit of early psychotherapeutic interventions for infants and parents has come as a surprise to us all. Bjorn Salomonsson takes us on a riveting journey into the depths of his unique therapeutic work with babies and parents, beginning in the prenatal period and moving to the early postnatal development. He presents an astutely designed panoply of rich case reports and deep insights into psychoanalytic thinking against a sound backdrop of empirical research. With conceptual clarity and coherence, he bridges the clinical and scientific arenas, offering an excellent foundation both for therapeutic work and future research efforts."
Kai von Klitzing, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, President of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH).
"A masterful, much needed and highly readable exposition of this flourishing field. The authors compelling clinical vignettes, that include his own emotional and counter-transference exchanges, bring to life his helpful formulations that bring forward new clinical knowledge and research. The book not only builds on his own consulting experiences in a Swedish health care context, but reviews work in other contexts, including clinical trials there and elsewhere. Wonderfully, the book also offers links to couples and family work as psychoanalysis is increasingly recognized as a two-person and relational psychology."
Robert N. Emde, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado; Honorary President, World Association of Infant Mental Health.
"The tone of the book is conversational and one has the impression of being in a multidisciplinary team meeting where clinical findings, research and different treatment approaches are being presented and critically discussed with the patients needs very much in mind. It evidences Salomonssons impressive capacity to communicate complex ideas in an accessible way. The dialogue between theory and clinical content allows the reader to initially engage with very interesting clinical vignettes and to have an experience of what might be going on between mother and baby before theoretical concepts are introduced."
Shirley B. Hiscock, British Psychoanalytic Council. To read this review in full, please see the following: Hiscock, S. (2021) Psychodynamic Interventions in Pregnancy and Infancy, Clinical and Theoretical Perspectives, by Bjorn Salomonsson, London and New York, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2018, 296 pp., 32 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-8153-5905-0. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 102:831-832
