[Psychotherapy with mothers and infants in problem families]

This article reports on a project in which mothers living in conditions describable as suproletarian are given psychotherapeutic treatment alongside practical care. The special feature of this system of comprehensive care for mothers from so-called "hard-to-reach-families" is that it begins during pregnancy, is instituted via the agency of midwives and that the therapeutic sessions are designed on a long-term basis and take place in the mothers' own homes. In two detailed case reports the authors describe their methods and define the objectives pursued by this project - the stabilization of the mothers in their family life situation and the prevention, from birth, of disturbances and disabilities otherwise to be anticipated in the children themselves.