This article summarizes the scant existing research on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on mothers and their babies during the peripartum period and describes a pilot research project within the Infant-Family Service (IFS) at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, an outpatient mental health service for inner-city families with children ages birth to 4 years who are at risk for maltreatment and exposure to family violence. The program studied 41 mothers who had children ages 8-50 months and reported clear histories of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and/or domestic violence. The study found that the severity of the mothers' histories of violence-related trauma was positively and significantly correlated with overall psychiatric symptoms, as well as current and lifetime PTSD symptoms. Among most mothers, the research team found a correlation between a) the degree of depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms and b) the degree to which those mothers viewed their children with unrealistic, frightening, bizarre, or negative expectations. Similarly, the degree of current depressive symptoms in the context of lifetime PTSD was significantly and positively correlated with the degree of negativity of maternal attributions. The author describes a single-session video feedback intervention conducted during the pilot program, which found that: a) the higher the mother's Reflective Functioning (RF), the more she reduced negativity toward her child during and after the video feedback intervention; b) mothers with more PTSD avoidance cluster symptoms and depressive symptoms were less responsive to the trial intervention; and c) higher RF and lower PTSD symptoms were associated with greater reduction of negativity.