Access to the Non‐Verbal through Modelling in the Psychoanalytic Situation

SUMMARY. The most archaic levels of the psyche may not be accessible through verbal forms of expression. They are retained within the body and body‐centred experiences. Pankow has developed a method of modelling with plasticine which is expressive rather than gratifying. It offers the possibility of giving form to otherwise formless areas of psychic function. We have used this method to enable patients to give form to the unexpressible layers that cannot be signified in language.