Mother, Other and Self—Love and Rivalry for Twins in their First Year of Life

The author describes 'naturalistic' observations made of the interactions between identical twin boys and their mother and family, at weekly intervals, during the first year of life and at monthly intervals during the second year. She interprets selected sequences of interaction in the light of competing psychoanalytic theories concerning the development of relationships between mother, self and other. These theories are associated with Klein, Mahler and Stern. The special case of twins offers a natural experiment which can bring a new perspective to the formulations of the respective authors.

She proposes that rivalry between the twins arises first in relation to the actual physical breast, though quickly transferred to their mother. A prerequisite for such rivalry is the establishment for each of a good internal relation to the breast and to mother, with concomitant possessiveness towards these as primary objects. She suggests that abnormal developmental circumstances would be required for a primary relationship between the twins to supplant the primary relationship for each with breast and mother.