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Adolescents in certain dysfunctional families suffering from the absence of structure and the lack of well-defined roles sometimes end up developing highly invested relationships with family pets. Thus the latter take on the role of narcissistic support which help them make up for the emotional deprivation that often leads to risk taking. These animals, genuine narcissistic doubles allow these children to act out representations of the transgenerational shadow zones, but also enable the therapist to make sense of suffering that cannot be expressed otherwise but by acting out.