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Perinatal loss and infant mental health: An introduction
Author(s) -
Zeanah Charles H.,
Harmon Robert J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0355(199522)16:2<76::aid-imhj2280160202>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - mental health , meaning (existential) , psychology , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , humanities , psychiatry , psychotherapist , philosophy , paleontology , biology
Why should infant mental health clinicians be interested in perinatal loss? As experts on the meaning of infants to their parents, infant mental health professionals are uniquely suited to appreciate the meaning of loss of an infant. Complexly interwoven factors related to the infant, the parent, and the larger social and historical context affect the meanings of loss for parents. In addition, perinatal losses are thought to have implications for other parent‐child relationships in the family, especially infants born subsequent to the loss. This Special Issue of the Infant Mental Health Journal is devoted to clinical and empirical aspects of perinatal loss, in the hope that converging interests in this topic may lead to better questions and clearer answers for the field about the challenges posed by loss of an infant.