The Many Faces of Twinship: From the Psychology of the Self to the Psychology of Being Human

In this introductory article to this special section, we draw attention to the many faces that Kohut introduced with respect to what we now see as the multifaceted notion of twinship. We tease out and describe seven faces: (1) twinship as something between merger and mirroring, (2) twinship as a process of mutual finding, (3) twinship as a sense of belonging, (4) twinship as a way of passing on talents and skills to the next generation, (5) twinship in silent communication, (6) twinship as a sense of being a human among other human beings, and (7) twinship in trauma. We identify the faces in Kohut's writings and show their relevance to Kohut's personal history. In this way, we support Atwood and Stolorow's (1979) argument that a theory of psychoanalysis and the theorist's personal life influence each other. We conclude that what may have looked like insignificant shifts in Kohut's definition of twinship over time reveals a distinct theoretical transformation from the psychology of the self to what we refer to as the psychology of being human.