Have you ever had someone have a breakdown in front of you? It happened to me this week. I was with a woman in her early 20’s and she had been given some terrible news. I helped her to understand the news and what it meant for her, and how it would affect her life over the next several days. She did not take the news well and showed this by her body language. She began to weep and cry and say “What. What. That can’t be right. I’ve done nothing wrong”. She hysterically began to repeat the word “No”, over and over again. As I watched her behaviour I decided to use matching and mirroring. Immediately I copied her body language by crying. I stood opposite to her, where she could see me and I held my arms up to my face just as she was doing. I then said, “What. I don’t know. I just don’t know. I don’t know what they will do. I am new here”. When I was speaking I used the same distressed tone of voice that she had used when she spoke. The result was interesting. At first I thought that she would…