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Using the grid from the Nouveau manuel du TAT (ed. 2003), the authors want to bring out the different types of defense mechanisms and the problem configurations in two protocoles of adolescents suffering from borderline pathology. With the help of CN (narcissictic cathexis) and CL (limit instability) items of the grid, the authors have investigated the way in which issues of object loss are articulated with narcissism. The quality of narcissism seems to us to be particularly important in distinguishing different types of borderline functioning.