ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the limbic level of mentalization and the compass for the limbic emotional level. It explores the Finnish child psychiatrist Jukka Makela’s description of theraplay and reviews the therapy excerpt that Jukka Makela presented at the conference. The limbic system is functionally associated with emotions and memory, and, indeed, the system is often called the emotional brain. The point of the limbic compass is that our emotional interaction experiences build deep-rooted and non-verbal interaction expectations, which are transmitted from one person to another through mimicry and body language. Thus, the limbic compass is a model of individual interaction expectations and mutual emotional experience of being with others. During the limbic development phase, the child interacts both with carers and other adults and children, and, in these exchanges, the child experiences many different nuances of positive and negative categorical emotions.
