[Liaison psychiatry at a neonatal intensive care unit. Interphase between psychiatry of the infant and neonatology].

A description is made of the situation of neonates and their families during hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Emphasis is made on the stressful situations faced by the infants, the families and the caregivers as well as on potential interventions to ameliorate their negative impact and to promote a favorable outcome. With the infants, the situation is one of overwhelming aversive stimulation, noncontingent responses and painful procedures, coupled with deprivation of normative experiences, propiciated by their illness and the structure of the unit. With the families, their feelings of impotence, guilt, and separation from their infant are highlighted, and interventions are described that may help them in this situation of crisis. With the staff the intervention consists on education and sensitization to the infant's needs. The liaison psychiatrist is the infant's voices with the families and the staff. The literature is reviewed in terms of the potential effects of favorable stimulation and of the negative experiences of neonates while at the NICU.