Women are vulnerable to PTSD in the pregnancy subsequent to stillbirth, particularly when conception occurs soon after the loss.

It has been suggested that the characteristic lapses in thinking and reasoning of the unresolved/disorganized (U) state of mind following traumatic loss involve psychological mechanisms similar to those found in PTSD and that a fuller understanding of these mechanisms may help explain the disruptions in parental caretaking behaviour that lead to disorganized infant attachment. This paper investigates whether PTSD, assessed in 60 mothers in the pregnancy after stillbirth, predicts infant disorganized (D) attachment in next-born children, and whether there was any association between U and PTSD. We report that in this population there was no significant correspondence between U and PTSD scores or caseness and no association between maternal PTSD and infant D. We discuss possible interpretations of these findings.

Contrasting their system with that of Sifneos and Malan, the authors make an unsubstantiated claim to be able to reach a wider clientele having more severe and pre-Oedipal conflicts. The first four chapters deal with the treatment model, connecting time-related factors and case and central issue selection. This is a coherent synopsis of Mann's Time-Limited Psychotherapy draw ing on a wide, ifeclectic, range oftheories, and threaten ing occasionally to become a mish-mash rather than a synthesis, with a relative inattention to countertransfer ence and short-circuiting of transference issues. This is offset by the following six chapters, which are excellent, if predictably teleological, case illustrations including phobic and hypochondriacal reactions, hys terical conversion, and character neuroses. Hysteria is

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