Many twins lack an understanding about growing up as a twin until external life circumstances jolt them into a new awareness. I was speaking to an identical female twin in her midtwenties, whom I will call Abby, who repeatedly told me that she would never measure up to her sister. She seemed to feel as if this was an inevitable and unavoidable fait accompli. She concluded there was little she could do about it other than try not to get […]

Last month I was invited to speak at a mothers-of-twins annual convention. It turned out to be a different experience than I had anticipated because this gathering primarily included parents of adult twins, rather than young ones. I was excited and inspired by this unexpected shift as I treasure talking about adult twin development. However, more importantly, what emerged for me at this conference was learning about the ties many of these women have forged with one another for more […]

A few years ago, I went out to lunch with an acquaintance and her adolescent identical twin boys. One of the boys accidentally knocked something off the table. What struck me about that incident was his twin’s reaction. Rather than expressing a more typical sibling response, such as calling his brother a name or making fun of him, the bystander twin was thoroughly humiliated and ashamed. He reacted as if both were responsible for the accident. In many of my […]

Simon and Sid are forty-year-old identical twin men who reside in Europe. They live together, work at the same company, and until very recently sat next to each other on the same working team. Aside from a brief period in their early twenties when they worked at separate companies, they have been together. A few months ago, Sid moved from one department to another in their company. The change was unexpected. A position opened and Sid was asked to fill […]

My twin patient “Linda” described going through a very rough patch with her significant other. While she was able to be supportive of him, Linda was flooded with intrusive thoughts about how gleeful her twin sister would be if her partner suffered a tremendous loss. She felt terrifying guilt about having such “evil” thoughts about her sister. She did not understand where they were coming from and was worried that I must think she is a terrible, sick person. After […]