Recently, Dr. Phil featured a program about sixteen-year-old twins, Taylor and Tricia, who both have an eating disorder. It was tragic to witness how these girls’ lives have been swallowed up in an anorexic bulimic vortex. The visual images of their binging and purging behavior were graphically stunning. While we certainly cannot know all of the circumstances that contributed to the girls’ eating disorder, the producers of this program focused on the parents’ divorce, the mother’s boyfriend, and the father’s […]
Tag Archives: twins
Constantly in Search of Acceptance
It stands to reason that many of us who enter the helping professions have a fundamental proclivity for being helpful, and we enjoy feeling needed and appreciated. In the case of psychotherapists, our professional training, our ongoing personal therapy, and our continuing education enable us to secure and maintain healthy boundaries with our patients. While we experience tremendous gratification and a sense of well-being when our clients are doing well, we are careful not to consciously or unconsciously demand that […]
Find Your Comfort Zone and Leave It
I was listening to an NPR piece called “Wisdom From YA Authors on Leaving Home: Neal Shusterman” on Weekend Edition Saturday for August 27. Mr. Shusterman reminisced about his troubled adolescence adjusting to life in a new country. He related that overcoming depression and loneliness was instrumental in the future adaptations he had to make throughout the course of his life. His advice was “find your comfort zone and leave it.” This radio piece resonated with me professionally and personally. […]
The Risks of Twin Motivation
While twins can be excellent motivators for each other, sometimes risks are associated with the constant comparison and competition that underlie their attachment. This article discusses how these dynamics can contribute to eating disorders in some identical twin pairs. It was originally published on FoxNews.com on August 28, 2016, and I am sharing it here with the author’s permission. Twins at higher risk for eating disorders, experts say Julie Revelant Growing up, identical twins Jennifer* and Marie*, 34, were best […]
Do You Really Like That Restaurant?
My twin patient and I were saying goodbye to one another at the end of our session. Casually she mentioned that she was looking forward to having lunch at a particular restaurant down the street from my office. Having slipped out of my clinical demeanor, I disdainfully and incredulously inquired, “Do you really like that restaurant?” My stunned patient stared at me with a look of consternation and fear. Instinctively I realized what she was experiencing in the face of […]