Often I post stories about twins celebrating milestone birthdays together. However, I rarely tell stories about adult twins who have reconnected in later life after some years of discord. An identical twin woman in her midseventies—whom I will call Mary—came to see me after a particularly traumatic interaction with her twin sister, Monica. These women live near one another—about a thirty-minute drive. They had a long history of getting together for family events but rarely saw one another by themselves. […]
Category Archives: Adult Twins
A Filmmaker, His Twinship, and His Twinsburg Experience
I attended the Twins Day Festival as a researcher in August 2014. At that time I had the pleasure of meeting Phil and Joe Garrity. They arrived at the festival with a small crew to help them shoot footage for the film that Joe had envisioned. The short film Twinsburg is terrific. I am planning to show it at my Omega Institute workshop on twin relationships, July 28–30. Joe has kindly offered to come to speak about his emotional journey […]
Searching for Your Double
Last weekend I had the privilege of speaking to the Northwest Association of Mothers of Twins Clubs (NWAMOTC) in Vancouver, Washington. NWAMOTC is a network of member clubs throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and the province of British Columbia, Canada. The convention attendees spent a lovely weekend away from their families, enjoying one another’s company and the activities planned by the hosts of the convention, the Columbia Mothers of Twins Club. Often moms of multiples commiserate […]
Societal Backlash Against Demystifiying the Twin Mystique
A few weeks ago I spoke about parenting twins to a small staff of speech and language pathologists who treat children at a private clinic. In thinking about their client population, most of the staff had treated only one twin, not both. I marveled that perhaps each twin had a separate experience that afforded her/him a respite from being identified solely as a twin. One staff member asked me if I felt that parenting awareness about twin challenges has changed […]
One-on-One Time—Helping Multiples Create a Singular Identity
Sam, a bright young man in his early thirties, came to see me because he felt abandoned by his identical twin brother Ryan. My patient was distraught because Ryan had changed so drastically since he started to see a psychotherapist. Sam had believed unequivocally that he and Ryan were destined to work together as singers, actors, and performers. Sam had organized his entire professional life on the assumption that he and his brother would be an artistic collaborative team. However, […]