24

Dual absence is a form of psychic instability observed among migrant subjects who are confronted with an inability to find their place the host country. In our clinical experience with placed adolescents of both foreign and French origin, we observe that they were faced with a dual absence, as a result of an inability to overcome losses and breakdowns. Absent from the family home and coping with successive phases of disinvestment, these young people show a psychic inability to become part of the host environment. We hypothesise that dual absence is not specific to migrant populations and that it can manifest itself in a melancholic functioning following the loss of an environment containing multiple love objects.