The Newborn in the Intensive Care Unit: A Neuropsychoanalytic Prevention Model: Revised Edition

This revised edition of the book has been updated and extended with the addition of chapters on the death of the child and on the experience of siblings. Using infant observation and her psychoanalytic training, neuropsychiatrist Dr Negri provides new insight on the experience of the premature infant as well as support to parents and medical staff caring for them.

This book grows out of neuropsychiatrist Romana Negri’s thirty years’ experience as consultant neuropsychiatrist to a neonatal intensive care unit, working with parents and medical teams. The premature babies she observes are suspended between life and death, as are the feelings of their parents and the nurses who care for them. The reader witnesses how Dr Negri opens herself to the babies’ experience and introduces the tiny human beings she encounters to their parents as well as to the professionals. Her ability to support the adults, whether in maintaining hope or in dealing with death, creates a family atmosphere within a high-tech hospital department.