In this paper Bion's concept of ‘Nameless Dread’ is studied, taking the play ‘A Delicate Balance’ by Edward Albee as the starting point. The baby projects the dread it feels about the sense of dying onto the mother. This dread is preverbal and therefore nameless. Sometimes the mother, for various reasons, can not take this dread in and transform it so that the baby can tolerate it when it is given back; that is she cannot contain it. When this happens, this unnamed dread will be an element which will halt the baby's development. This is explained with case material at the end of the paper.