ABSTRACT
In the introductory chapter, we illustrated one of the main ideas that animated the research work of our group: the possibility of exploring in a direct way the mental events inherent in the experience of the pregnancy in its manifold aspects of transformation, crisis, and construction of a maternal identity. Esther Bick's model, which many of us had had a long experience of, in its various applications, seemed particularly suitable to investigate the dawn of the mother-child relationship. The intention of acquiring personal experiences of Pre-Infant Observation – that is, accompanying some women, since the beginning, along their internal path towards becoming a mother – was born this way.
