Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights how the observer's attentive and thoughtful role fulfilled certain paternal functions promoting the possibility of working through some intense emotions shared by the arrival of the second baby. It shows how videoconferencing can be utilized to promulgate the study of infant observation in places where there is no direct access to psychotherapists qualified to provide such training. The book enable those who have not joined us via video-link to get a sense of both the difficulties and the satisfaction involved in trying to form a more cooperative, emotionally available, and deeply focused work group. It suggests that persecutory anxieties of early infancy might not be the first experiences present in a mother–baby relationship. The book is devoted to contributors sharing their thoughts about the seminars and the influence that infant observation has on the observer.