ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some aspects of clinical work in the perinatal service, part of the specialist service for the under-fives age group, based in the Child and Family Department at the Tavistock Clinic in London. The majority of the individuals, couples, parents, and families that struggle with the emotional aftermath of living through traumatic experiences that have occurred during pregnancy, the infant's birth or the months following. The experience of feeling catapulted into a disaster area where they had previously had great expectations of joy is one they share. The chapter sketches the backdrop to the development of the perinatal service and then discusses ideas about trauma and mourning that have helped to guide what the chapter tries to understand what patients were describing. It tries to show the importance of helping two mothers begin the complicated task of processing their traumatic experiences.
