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… they would have bodily constitutions so similar that they would be similarly affected with sickness at the same time and by the same causes.
The interaction between genetics and environment, between nature and nurture, is at the core of investigations into disturbances of maturation and development and into the etiology of psychopathology. The identical twin pair provides an ideal model for such studies. In that model, the variable of genetics is deemed essentially constant. The foci of the psychoanalytic studies of twin pairs have been on the areas of self and object differentiation and on the difficulties twins have with separation and individuation. Our attempt in this article is to illustrate, with the example of an identical twin pair, some of the difficulties twins face and to propose that, indeed, they may be at risk for the development of narcissistic personalities.
Leonard studied cultural and parental attitudes regarding the problems of identity and ego development in twins.1 He observed that our culture employs a mass repression of the many problems and issues inherent to twins. This aside, it seems that the birth of twins represents a maturational crisis for the mother. She tries to identify with two infants. She is relieved when, at about the fifth month, the twins become sufficiently aware of each other so that their being together mollifies their demands on her. One of Leonard's conclusions is that a twin will relate more readily to a twin and less to an adult object.
Maenchen, accepting this, believes that it obstructs the development of socialization skills.2 He states that the symbiotic twin relationship that