This article arose from the author's interest in the theme of the double in the context of treatment of severe mental disorders in children. A number of different questions came up that can only be suggested here. If these points are pertinent, they will have to be treated individually, based on clinical evidence: How do children, including autistic children, begin to speak? What is the role of the "identical double, " "the different double, " and "duplication" in the acquisition of both subjectivity and language? What are the meanings of mirroring inversion? What are the different "mirror image recognition levels"? What succeeds and what fails in echolalia? Can lateral issues be linked to literal approaches? Can repetition in psychosis and in mourning be compared? Some enlightening Kleinian texts regarding duplication are discussed from a Lacanian point of view. There seems to be need for a stronger link between, and development of, the preponderance of word and gaze in children's investments. The children mentioned were observed by therapists at CEMPI, either in their everyday activities or while undergoing psychotherapy at the institution.
Double; autism; echolalia; mirroring inversion; imaginary and symbolic alienation; mirroring recognition; literal and lateral findings