ABSTRACT
Psychological and emotional problems can manifest themselves somatically, by hindering the fertilization of the egg cell by the sperm cell, or when the pregnancy is not carried to full term. The complex emotional pattern of a family is also affected by the parents' relationship with each other. The mother had already been happily looking forward to the baby during the pregnancy, and both parents envisioned their life as a threesome, although they could barely imagine quite what it would be like. In his article "The Dead Mother", Green pointed out the effects on a baby's development when its mother sinks into a deathlike depression and is no longer emotionally accessible. The difficult tasks of parents consist of, first, getting to know their baby's personality, getting in touch with it emotionally, building up a relationship with it, and communicating with it —first in "baby talk", and later in more differentiated ways.
