The problems discussed concern for the most part the prenatal maternal-fetal relationship. Theoretical considerations, research, and the clinical experiences on the physiological and psychological interaction of the pregnant mother and the developing infant are presented by an impressive list of psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, gynecologists and obstetricians, pediatricians and psychologists.

The general thesis—that emotional-psychological dynamics of the mother affect conception (or sterility), pregnancy, labor and birth—is developed psychoanalytically in the keynote paper by Helene Deutsch. She shows how pre-existing tensions, which perhaps were apparent in menstrual disorders, incapacity for sexual gratification, etc., may intensify the conflict between the aims of the ego in the pregnant woman and her functioning in the service