ABSTRACT
Many children who have been in care for a substantial period of time especially early in their lives appear to suffer from learning difficulties. In this chapter, the author outlines some of the obstacles one encounters when attempting to facilitate such internalisation in deprived children. Thinking is not to be seen as the unfolding of an autonomous function, but as deeply related to a child's emotional development. It often appears to be impaired in children who have suffered from the lack of a consistent caretaker holding their emotional needs and anxieties. Children exposed to frequent and repeated losses may find it intolerable to keep alive the many 'absent objects' in their lives. They are often perceived as internal monsters, and this can help us understand the overwhelming anxieties of many deprived children. These children may be using a self-defeating mechanism that faces them with a 'double deprivation'.
