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The World Trade Center Project (WTCP) was conceived as a response to the 9/11 disaster. Anni Bergman in her introduction shared her own disbelief responses to the disaster as she recalled her early reactions to her World War II experiences. She noted that seeing the WTC disaster on TV confronted her with the terrible reality of the event. The magnitude of the attack was unimaginable. New Yorkers were experiencing not only disbelief but also a sense of helplessness. The smoke from the site covered the city. It was a frightening time; many families were impacted. Some of the men killed were husbands and expectant fathers. They left behind pregnant wives as widows when the towers went down. These women had sustained tragic losses during a critical time in their lives and the lives of their now fatherless children. These expectant mothers and their unborn children became the concern of the WTCP. The WTCP was designed as a pro bono effort to offer professional help that included primary prevention, early intervention with an optional research component for the future. In October 2001, Beatrice Beebe, Phyllis Cohen, Joseph Jaffe, Anni Bergman and the members of this panel came together to work on and establish the WTCP. All the members have a background in parent-infant psychotherapy and are actively engaged in the study and practice of this form of psychoanalytically informed treatment.
The unique component of the WTCP included the use of laboratory videotaped face-to-face interactions with infants and mothers at different time sequences, video play sessions with mothers and their children, and then feedback sessions with mothers using the videotapes in conjunction with the various therapists who were working with the family. The use of videotape feedback sessions acted as a powerful intervention for both therapists and the mothers as they viewed and shared their responses to tapes of the babies at play and the babies' interactions with the mothers and therapists. As stud