The Psychology of Twins1

Jacob A. Arlow, in his introduction, commented upon the increased interest that has been shown by psychoanalysts in the past few years in studying the problems of identical twins. He pointed out that very few studies have been made using identical twins as experiments in nature, to determine various aspects of the influence of environment; even less work has been done on the special psychology of the individuals who comprise a pair of identical twins. Such studies, he said, might be expected to throw light on aspects of developmental psychology, character formation, and symptom formation, as well as upon the subjective experience of having a twin and being a twin. It was toward this latter problem that the panel would devote itself first, turning then to the methodology of twin studies and the problems of twin research.

Arlow presented a paper based upon the study of two identical twins, each the member of a different twin pair, whom he had analyzed. The first of these twins had been the younger of the pair; his sibling had died when the twins were in their late teens. To this loss he reacted by a massive denial, manifested as follows: he would say goodnight to the brother's empty bed, would talk to his brother while walking, and visit his grave to speak to him. He conceived the fantasy of having taken his brother inside himself. Thus his twin was not dead but remained alive within him. This internalized Dybbuk caused him intense suffering, but as long as he experienced such suffering, he was able to maintain denial of his brother's death. The brothers had had friendly relations with each other, the patient being the younger, more submissive, and more admiring of the pair. After the denial had been analyzed it was possible to see that there was much hostility in the patient toward his older brother, centering about the desire to have been, not a twin, but a single individual. There were regressive fantasies of intrauterine existence as a single individual