Alone in the Mirror: Twins in Therapy presents psychologically-focused real life histories, which demonstrate how childhood experiences shape the twin attachment and individual development. Readers will find the practices and the insights within invaluable, whether they use them to communicate with twin patients, family members, or if they are part of a twinship themselves.

Why would a twin forgo her own needs to make sure her same-age sibling is always taken care of, when her sister doesn't even appreciate her sacrifices? What would cause a twin to experience severe anxiety and panic attacks when he and his brother go away to separate colleges? What makes it so difficult for some twins to develop friendships and romantic relationships? The "twin mystique"-our culture's idealization of the twin relationship-and twins' own expectations contribute to their difficulties. A therapist who understands the psychology of twinship can articulate what is actually going on between the siblings. In Twins in Session, therapists will learn what's behind these and other issues: A twin who is having problems with a same-age sibling may think of himself or herself as part of a couple in conflict. Since twins are conditioned to expect effortless intimacy with their twin, they often feel deeply distraught when problems arise between them. Rage often underlies the anxiety that some twins experience due to their being perceived as, and essentially functioning as, one half of a single entity. Twins in Session will help therapists become a trusted outsider who can give twin clients perspective about their twinship issues and help them develop healthier relationships. Book jacket.

Even twins are unique. Most people idealize twins, fantasizing a close, perpetually loving relationship. Yet Klein, herself an identical twin, demonstrates that twins have complicated and intense relationships that range from over-identification or excessive closeness to profound estrangement and conflict. Most twins who are raised as individuals deal with the significant emotional pain of separation in adolescence or young adulthood, yet as mature adults can come to love and respect each other as individuals. As Klein makes clear, the parenting that twins receive as infants and young children affects the relationships that they have with one another and with the world they choose to function in. Because parenting is a critical determinant of psychological well-being, it should be treated as a serious but manageable challenge. This book is a must-read for twins, their parents, and scholars, students, and other researchers and professionals dealing with mental health and child development.

"[Dieterich's] writing is crisp and intelligent . . . She writes about her own reckoning with her sexuality and exploration of queer identity without becoming pat or coy, giving readers intimate access to her fears and conflicting emotions." --NPR For as long as she can remember, Leah has had the mysterious feeling that she’s been searching for a twin--that she should be part of an intimate pair. It begins with dance partners as she studies ballet growing up; continues with her attractions to girlfriends in college; and leads her, finally, to Eric, whom she moves across the country for and marries. But her steadfast, monogamous relationship leaves her with questions about her sexuality and her identity, so she and her husband decide to try an open marriage. How does a young couple make room for their individual desires, their evolving selfhoods, and their artistic ambitions while building a life together? Can they pursue other sexual partners, even live in separate cities, and keep their original passionate bond alive? Vanishing Twins looks for answers in psychology, science, pop culture, art, architecture, Greek mythology, dance, and language to create a lucid, suspenseful portrait of a woman testing the limits and fluidities of love.

The development of how twins relate to each other and their single partners is explored through life stories and clinical examples in this telling study of twin interconnections. While the quality of a nurturing family life is crucial, Dr. Klein has found there are often issues with separation anxiety, loneliness, competition with each other, and finding friendships outside of twinship. When twin lives are entwined because of inadequate parenting and estrangement, twin loss is possible and traumatic, creating a crippling fear of expansiveness—an inability to be yourself. Therapists and twins seeking an understanding of twin relationships will find this clinically compelling book a valuable resource.

Journalist Abigail Pogrebin is many things—wife, mother, New Yorker—but the one that has defined her most profoundly is “identical twin.” As children, she and her sister, Robin, were inseparable. But when Robin began to pull away as an adult, Abigail was left to wonder not only why, but also about the very nature of twinship. What does it mean to have a mirror image? How can you be unique when somebody shares your DNA? In One and the Same, Abigail sets off on a quest to understand how genetics shape us, crisscrossing the country to explore the varied relationships between twins, which range from passionate to bitterly resentful. She speaks to the experts and tries to answer the question parents ask most—is it better to encourage their separateness or closeness? And she paints a riveting portrait of twin life, yielding fascinating truths about how we become who we are.

New Understandings of Twin Relationships takes an experience-based approach to exploring how twin attachment and estrangement are critical to understanding the push and pull of closely entwined personal relationships. Based on the research expertise of each of the authors (all identical twins in their own right), and vignettes from twins across the globe, this book describes the inner workings of the twin-world, showing how the twin-world creates experiences that are often more intense and intricately textured than those in the singleton-world. Chapters debunk myths surrounding twinship and analyze the developmental stages of the twin relationship as well as the effect of being a twin on one’s mental health from different perspectives. The authors articulate how attachment, separation anxiety, loneliness, estrangement, and the subjective experience of the twin and non-twin "other" impact behavior, thinking, and feeling. Through its careful study of the many psychological challenges that twins face throughout their lifetime, this text will help psychologists, scholars, clinicians, and twins themselves attain a deeper understanding of all interpersonal relationships.

While most people begin life as separate human beings & must learn intimacy, twins are born into intimacy & must learn how to find separateness. "In her book, WE ARE TWINS, BUT WHO AM I?, Betty Jean Case has taken some of the best parts from all the other books on twins & new information she gained during nine years of research & put together one of the best books ever written about twins. She questioned more than 800 twins on subjects as varied as love, marriage, education, & ESP. This book is not just more of the same information you have read somewhere else. Being a twin herself, Mrs. Case has been able to express the struggle for identity from a twin's perspective. It is easy to read & is of interest to everyone, including twins, both identical & fraternal, parents of twins of all ages, grandparents, teachers, & anyone else who encounters twins." NOTEBOOK, Published by National Association of Mothers of Twins Club. Spring 1992. "This book examines how twins feel about being twins, how being a twin affects their lives, the struggle twins have to find their individuality & the importance of this. The special bond between twins is explained with advice to friends & relatives on how to understand what is involved." TAMBA - Twins & Multiple Births Association, Newsletter, Multiple Births Foundation Summer, 1992 London, England.

In the sense that all stories have been written before, a truly startling piece of fiction may be the greatest literary feat possible. Enter Stacey Richter, a virtuoso contender for that very prize, whose offbeat characters manage to toe the line between eccentricity and banal daily life. Each story is organized around a pair of characters, and these characters are permitted to reach their full bizarre potential against mundane backdrops. The result is fiction that drives toward a place of surreal revelation, in these sometimes disturbing, often funny, short pieces. In Twin Study, Richter beautifully captures — albeit through unlikely exemplars — the essential experience of humanity.