The disorganizing and traumatic impact of expatriation on foreign and immigrant students is studied starting from two case studies. The problematics at work with quite a few foreign students deals with the repetition of the puberty scene and related scenarii. With immigrant students, the difficulty linked to the ´adolescens elaborationª is expressed through a conflict between loyalty owed to the native system and that owed to the new culture. The task of the psychotherapist consists in granting an anaclisis and protective shield wherefrom the new identity can elaborate itself.