ABSTRACT
The theme of this chapter will be what the author have termed 'double deprivation', and which the author will illustrate with material from work with Martin, a patient whom the author saw on a non-intensive basis. There was first a deprivation inflicted upon him by external circumstances over which he had no control whatsoever. Second, there was a deprivation deriving from internal sources: from his crippling defences and from the quality of his internal objects, which provided him with so little support that he was made an orphan inwardly as well as outwardly. Martin was the illegitimate child of Afro-Caribbean parents, and had been placed in care at the age of two months. He was referred at the age of fourteen for aggressive behaviour, stealing and considerable learning difficulties. His reading age was six. He had made a suicide attempt two years prior to referral, when he tried to jump from a second floor window.
