Stella Acquarone, PhD, is the Director of the Parent-Infant Clinic of the School of Infant Mental Health in London and its branch in the USA. She is a practising adult and child psychotherapist and has worked in the NHS for thirty-one years. She is a member of the British Psychological Society, the Association of Child Psychotherapists, and the London Centre for Psychotherapy. She has pioneered studies in early infant clinical research and development, and lectures internationally on all aspects of infant-parent development and psychotherapy. She has written extensively in professional papers, journals and chapters in books, and has taught infant observational studies and new clinical strategies in working with disturbed children.

'Stella Acquarone has brought together some of the most skilled and perceptive voices in the whole field of infancy and trauma. A growing public policy awareness is leading to a drive to better support parents and infants throughout the perinatal period. Initiatives such as the 1001 Critical Days manifesto and campaign mean that this book is extremely timely and will make a significant contribution to broadening this public mental health debate.'-Baroness Sheila Hollins, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry of Disability at St George's University of London, Past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and of the BMA, and an independent member of the House of Lords'Surviving the Early Years is an essential read, which I strongly recommend. Parent-infant pioneer Stella Acquarone has given us a comprehensive book centred on the psychodynamics of traumatic early beginnings. Acquarone has carefully assembled thirteen chapters written by authoritative authors, each about a different trauma and its conscious and unconscious aspects, which will enrich the clinical and supervisory work of professionals of all levels of experience.'-Dr Estela Welldon, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock & Portman Clinics, Founder and President for Life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, and author of Mother, Madonna, Whore and Playing with Dynamite'Nothing in human life has greater impact than birth. The popular view of becoming a parent is of a joyous transition, and of the long-awaited emerging baby as loved and loving, but this book is a vital reality check. Some births come out of or lead into trauma. Stella Acquarone, calling on many years of pioneering work with parents and infants, has commissioned authoritative authors to describe a range of traumatic early beginnings; to elucidate, often using case histories, the psychodynamics of each; and, most important of all, to describe - even prescribe - multidisciplinary interventions that can offer hope of bringing light into otherwise dismal futures.'-Penelope Leach, PhD, CPsychol, FBPsS, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, and author of Your Baby and Child, The Essential First Year, Family Breakdown, and Innovative Research in Infant Wellbeing

• Foreword -- Introduction -- Thoughts in Search of a Thinker -- The emotional dialogue: womb to walking -- Sharing joyful friendship and imagination for meaning with infants, and their application in early intervention -- “Happy birthdeath to me”: surviving death wishes in early infancy -- Reaching the Vulnerable at Risk from “External” Circumstances -- Creating a safe space: psychotherapeutic support for refugee parents and babies -- Interventions with mothers and babies in prisons: collision of internal and external worlds -- Talking to, and being with, babies: the importance of relationship in the neonatal intensive care unit -- “Toward the baby”: first steps in supporting parents in early encounters with their infants. A reflection from Poland -- Adoption and fostering: facilitating healthy new attachments between infant and adoptive parent -- In a strange country without a map: special needs babies -- Vulnerable Groups Coming from “Internal” Fragile Circumstances -- Early recognition of autism -- The power of the relationship to awaken positive emotional potential -- Early paediatric intervention: to see or not to see, to be or not to be—with others -- Working in a National Health Service setting with toddlers at risk of autistic spectrum disorder -- Conclusion

Stella Acquarone, PhD, is the Director of the Parent-Infant Clinic of the School of Infant Mental Health in London and its branch in the USA. She is a practising adult and child psychotherapist and has worked in the NHS for thirty-one years. She is a member of the British Psychological Society, the Association of Child Psychotherapists, and the London Centre for Psychotherapy. She has pioneered studies in early infant clinical research and development, and lectures internationally on all aspects of infant-parent development and psychotherapy. She has written extensively in professional papers, journals and chapters in books, and has taught infant observational studies and new clinical strategies in working with disturbed children.

'Stella Acquarone has brought together some of the most skilled and perceptive voices in the whole field of infancy and trauma. A growing public policy awareness is leading to a drive to better support parents and infants throughout the perinatal period. Initiatives such as the 1001 Critical Days manifesto and campaign mean that this book is extremely timely and will make a significant contribution to broadening this public mental health debate.'-Baroness Sheila Hollins, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry of Disability at St George's University of London, Past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and of the BMA, and an independent member of the House of Lords'Surviving the Early Years is an essential read, which I strongly recommend. Parent-infant pioneer Stella Acquarone has given us a comprehensive book centred on the psychodynamics of traumatic early beginnings. Acquarone has carefully assembled thirteen chapters written by authoritative authors, each about a different trauma and its conscious and unconscious aspects, which will enrich the clinical and supervisory work of professionals of all levels of experience.'-Dr Estela Welldon, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock & Portman Clinics, Founder and President for Life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, and author of Mother, Madonna, Whore and Playing with Dynamite'Nothing in human life has greater impact than birth. The popular view of becoming a parent is of a joyous transition, and of the long-awaited emerging baby as loved and loving, but this book is a vital reality check. Some births come out of or lead into trauma. Stella Acquarone, calling on many years of pioneering work with parents and infants, has commissioned authoritative authors to describe a range of traumatic early beginnings; to elucidate, often using case histories, the psychodynamics of each; and, most important of all, to describe - even prescribe - multidisciplinary interventions that can offer hope of bringing light into otherwise dismal futures.'-Penelope Leach, PhD, CPsychol, FBPsS, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, and author of Your Baby and Child, The Essential First Year, Family Breakdown, and Innovative Research in Infant Wellbeing

• Foreword -- Introduction -- Thoughts in Search of a Thinker -- The emotional dialogue: womb to walking -- Sharing joyful friendship and imagination for meaning with infants, and their application in early intervention -- “Happy birthdeath to me”: surviving death wishes in early infancy -- Reaching the Vulnerable at Risk from “External” Circumstances -- Creating a safe space: psychotherapeutic support for refugee parents and babies -- Interventions with mothers and babies in prisons: collision of internal and external worlds -- Talking to, and being with, babies: the importance of relationship in the neonatal intensive care unit -- “Toward the baby”: first steps in supporting parents in early encounters with their infants. A reflection from Poland -- Adoption and fostering: facilitating healthy new attachments between infant and adoptive parent -- In a strange country without a map: special needs babies -- Vulnerable Groups Coming from “Internal” Fragile Circumstances -- Early recognition of autism -- The power of the relationship to awaken positive emotional potential -- Early paediatric intervention: to see or not to see, to be or not to be—with others -- Working in a National Health Service setting with toddlers at risk of autistic spectrum disorder -- Conclusion

Stella Acquarone, PhD, is the Director of the Parent-Infant Clinic of the School of Infant Mental Health in London and its branch in the USA. She is a practising adult and child psychotherapist and has worked in the NHS for thirty-one years. She is a member of the British Psychological Society, the Association of Child Psychotherapists, and the London Centre for Psychotherapy. She has pioneered studies in early infant clinical research and development, and lectures internationally on all aspects of infant-parent development and psychotherapy. She has written extensively in professional papers, journals and chapters in books, and has taught infant observational studies and new clinical strategies in working with disturbed children.

'Stella Acquarone has brought together some of the most skilled and perceptive voices in the whole field of infancy and trauma. A growing public policy awareness is leading to a drive to better support parents and infants throughout the perinatal period. Initiatives such as the 1001 Critical Days manifesto and campaign mean that this book is extremely timely and will make a significant contribution to broadening this public mental health debate.'-Baroness Sheila Hollins, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry of Disability at St George's University of London, Past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and of the BMA, and an independent member of the House of Lords'Surviving the Early Years is an essential read, which I strongly recommend. Parent-infant pioneer Stella Acquarone has given us a comprehensive book centred on the psychodynamics of traumatic early beginnings. Acquarone has carefully assembled thirteen chapters written by authoritative authors, each about a different trauma and its conscious and unconscious aspects, which will enrich the clinical and supervisory work of professionals of all levels of experience.'-Dr Estela Welldon, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock & Portman Clinics, Founder and President for Life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, and author of Mother, Madonna, Whore and Playing with Dynamite'Nothing in human life has greater impact than birth. The popular view of becoming a parent is of a joyous transition, and of the long-awaited emerging baby as loved and loving, but this book is a vital reality check. Some births come out of or lead into trauma. Stella Acquarone, calling on many years of pioneering work with parents and infants, has commissioned authoritative authors to describe a range of traumatic early beginnings; to elucidate, often using case histories, the psychodynamics of each; and, most important of all, to describe - even prescribe - multidisciplinary interventions that can offer hope of bringing light into otherwise dismal futures.'-Penelope Leach, PhD, CPsychol, FBPsS, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, and author of Your Baby and Child, The Essential First Year, Family Breakdown, and Innovative Research in Infant Wellbeing

• Foreword -- Introduction -- Thoughts in Search of a Thinker -- The emotional dialogue: womb to walking -- Sharing joyful friendship and imagination for meaning with infants, and their application in early intervention -- “Happy birthdeath to me”: surviving death wishes in early infancy -- Reaching the Vulnerable at Risk from “External” Circumstances -- Creating a safe space: psychotherapeutic support for refugee parents and babies -- Interventions with mothers and babies in prisons: collision of internal and external worlds -- Talking to, and being with, babies: the importance of relationship in the neonatal intensive care unit -- “Toward the baby”: first steps in supporting parents in early encounters with their infants. A reflection from Poland -- Adoption and fostering: facilitating healthy new attachments between infant and adoptive parent -- In a strange country without a map: special needs babies -- Vulnerable Groups Coming from “Internal” Fragile Circumstances -- Early recognition of autism -- The power of the relationship to awaken positive emotional potential -- Early paediatric intervention: to see or not to see, to be or not to be—with others -- Working in a National Health Service setting with toddlers at risk of autistic spectrum disorder -- Conclusion