PERINATAL LOSS AND INFANT MENTAL-HEALTH - AN INTRODUCTION

Why should infant mental health clinicians be interested in perinatal loss? As experts on the meaning of infants to their parents, infant me ntal health professionals are uniquely suited to appreciate the meanin g of loss of an infant. Complexly interwoven factors related to the in fant, the parent, and the larger social and historical context affect the meanings of loss for parents. In addition, perinatal losses are th ought to have implications for other parent-child relationships in the family, especially infants born subsequent to the loss. This Special Issue of the Infant Mental Health Journal is devoted to clinical and e mpirical aspects of perinatal loss, in the hope that converging intere sts in this topic may lead to better questions and clearer answers for the field about the challenges posed by loss of an infant.