ABSTRACT
Margaret was a psychotherapist in her late 50s with many years of experience working within a psychodynamic tradition. She never showed any emotion, rarely smiled and acted as a blank canvas onto which her clients could project personal thoughts, feelings and experiences about themselves and significant others. While most of Margaret's patients experienced her as a skilled and attentive listener, Scott had labelled her 'The Ice Maiden' and often remarked that her silent, empathic head-nodding reminded him of those plastic nodding dogs on car dashboards. Non-verbal communication of thoughts, emotions and intentions long precede the evolution of verbal abilities, and to this day it still remains our major form of exchange, particularly in child and primary caregiver interactions. In early development, the face of the mother acts as a mirror in which the child gradually discovers his sense of self and increases both his social functioning and ability to regulate his own affects.
