The first book: "The Bone Doll's Twin"
Plot summery: "In order for Skala to live in peace and prosperity, a Queen must sit on the throne.
The Bone Doll's Twin begins with an unusual and intriguing premise: in order to fulfill a prophecy and protect the rightful female heir to the throne of Skala, an outlawed witch and two wizards - Iya and her apprentice Arkoniel, attend a royal birthing of twins. These twins are born to Ariani, the sister of the Usurper King. This king has taken what, by the God's wishes, is a matriarchal throne; in the process eliminating every possible female contender to his reign, even secretly murdering his own female kin. 

The twins born to his sister Ariani are a boy and a girl, and to protect as well as disguise the new princess, Iya and Arkoniel assist the witch Lhel in killing the son at birth, then cast a spell that binds the newborn princess' physical appearance to that of her dead brother; a bodily glamour achieved by the stitching of skin that causes the sister to assimilate the brother's body, and vice versa. But there is one thing - the brother has to be killed before he draws his first breath - so that his soul would not enter his body. 

However, the plan goes all wrong. When the King comes to visit his sister, Lhel is startled from her concentration. The brother's soul is accidentally allowed to enter his body, and the mother, who is not a party to the plot, hears the cry of her infant son just before he is smothered to death. While the physical switch of identities works to deceive the king, the infants' mother is, on some level, aware of the deception and the unnatural death of her son; an awareness that leads to madness and a hostility towards her surviving child. Worse, the vengeful spirit of the murdered sibling comes to haunt not only the perpetrators of the crime, but in particular his unknowing sister, who, as she matures, remains totally unaware of her true gender and identity; knowing herself as the boy (Prince) Tobin. 

Conflicts begin to emerge between the kingdom of Skala and an ancient foe, intrigues simmer at court, and a looming struggle begins to emerge between mages who support the new rule of the king and those who wish a return to the older reign of queens."

Recent concepts regarding the origin of FIF suggest that it is part of a spectrum of monozygotic twinning gone awry, ranging from conjoined twins at one end to fetaform teratomas at the other. 

c) Loss of a twin in the womb
In a conversation recently with Althea Hayton (2008) a private researcher exploring the psychological effects on the surviving twin of the death of a co-twin before birth, she put forward the hypothesis that narcissists may be the result of a surviving identical twin. Research carried out in the USA (Boklage, C.E.,1990), has shown that one in eight people is a womb twin survivor, they lost a twin before birth – and many mothers are unaware in many instances that they were carrying twins as this happens at the zygote stage. Medically, one zygote splits and sucks the life out of the other zygote to survive. This is the twin-twin transfusion, where when one twin dies the blood of the dead twin may pass into the body of the survivor, via the shared placenta. Metaphorically speaking, Althea explained that the blood of the twin who didn’t make it, had it sucked out by the survivor, and so is set up the imprint of living like a leech on other people, feeding off their weaknesses in order to survive themselves.

The symbol of narcissus - the divided twin self

Ever since I began the primal process, almost 30 years ago, I kept reading about other's regressions which I felt had aspects which were improbable or most likely impossible. But then, thinking about my frame of mind before I began my own regressions in therapy, I realize that I would not have believed it possible to access some of the material I have felt in primal therapy. For example, as an infant, having visions of my mother's bathrobe with its complicated design, and having other remarkable very early visions would have seemed impossible to me. [ See Three Visual Primals ]. Even after I began regressions in therapy, I felt that I would not re-live my own birth traumas since my mother and other family members had assured me that I had had a normal birth. But since I have been reliving my birth traumas for the past 29 years, my perception of my birth process was very different from that of my close relatives. Accordingly, I have become less doctrinaire about the limits of primal regressions into and beyond the intrauterine period and ultimately to one's very beginnings. For a number of decades, I had been hearing and reading that inutero twins "know" that they have a partner with them. After I myself had experienced both physical and and emotional intrauterine primals, I became more open to the possiblity that returning to the womb was possible. Later, I attended primal workshops near New Orleans and witnessed such early twin regressions in others. Last week, a local newspaper interviewed a woman who was a twin but had lost her twin soon before birth. The twin sister had died inutero 10 days before the surviving twin was born. She mentioned how the very early loss of her sister had affected her life. She often felt an overwhelming loneliness and sadness as a result of the loss and mentioned that when she met other surviving twins she felt a deep affinity with them. She ended the interview saying that it is very important that the survivor be told that they had lost a twin sibling.

Dr. Alice Rose, who practices primal therapy in Atlanta, has written in Bonds of Fire, how early trauma can be destructive to relationships. She has developed a questionnaire that helps to identify potential twin-loss patients. In her book she has listed sixty-eight personality traits in those who have suffered inutero twin-loss.10 She calls death in utero of a twin the Vanishing Twin Syndrome and quotes Dr. William R. Emerson who believes "that at least 40% of conceptions are twins, but that one twin dies." Losing a twin means that the person becomes engaged in a life-long search for his or her beloved. Such loss can have devastating effects, Dr. Rose writes. The surviving twin may feel guilty and they often grieve their unknown loss. In relationships those who have lost a twin much prefer relating to one person at a time; they are very loyal. They may even remain loyal to those who abuse them. Everyone they meet is the potential lost twin. They even have trouble with sleeping alone! They never again want to risk any type of loss.11 Dr, Rose writes that food is an important issue with a surviving twin - there is guilt that they eat too much, yet at the same time, feel they can never have enough food. Dieting may trigger feelings of inadequate nourishment which were first felt in their mother's womb. Severe dieting may make them feel that they are dying. Loneliness is a constant problem. Twin loss can even result in severe depression. Inutero twin-loss reveals itself primarily in relationships, especially intimate ones. Reliving one's past while regressed may often mean consciously living the repressed trauma for the first time. This helps to dissipate some or most of the stresses and relationship problems which are sometimes the result of in utero twin-loss. A twin described the origin of his lifelong problem of feeling that anything beneficial for him was felt as a deprivation for others. He traced it to a uterine feeling. Most of my life, anything that felt real good to me took away from somebody else, particulary the nine months before I was born. It seemed like any food or any space that I got, Claire didn't get. I can remember times when I would move my body in a way to get more room in the womb, but I would hold any joy about it inside. I couldn't let my body let Claire know about it because if I got more space, it meant she got less space. So, this is a unique thing for me to say, 'Hey, I got something that's really neat for myself', and for somebody else to say, 'That's really neat' too. It's still something that's hard to get used to. Feels real good . . .  [If you find any similar articles relating to twin loss in utero, please make a comment below with a link, thanks! ]

 This article was written by William Emerson, who is a womb twin survivor himself and is president of APPPAH.

William Emerson PhD

Many individuals with problems of aggression report the loss of a twin. Their problems with aggression typically have to do with masochism and/or neurotic self criticism. Embryological research indicates that loss of a twin may be much more likely than previously thought. Embryologists estimate that between 30% to 80% of conceptions are actually multiple (i.e. twins) rather than single. Since the rate of birthed twins is far less than 30% to 80% percent, embryologists conclude that many conceptions involved the death of one or more twins. This can be prior to or during implantation, although some happen after implantation

People who experience the loss of a twin manifest several common dynamics. First of all, there is an ineffable but profound sense of loss, despair, and rage. These feelings are usually held in, but are sometimes acted out against others. Secondly, there is a chronic but unarticulated fear that loss will happen again, and pervasive insecurity. The threat of loss is defended against by distancing from others, or by engaging in codependent relationships. Third, the ability to bond with others is deficient or neurotic because there is a lack of trust in relationships, or disbelief that relationships will last. Fourth, there is often an over compliance in life, based on the unconscious feeling that “if I don’t do what is expected or wanted, I will die.” Over compliance feeds hostility and aggression toward others, since one cannot take care of oneself when constantly complying with others. Finally, prenatal experiences of near death and/or loss are sometimes turned against oneself or others, resulting in sadistic and masochistic behaviors, criminal violence, or sadomasochistic thinking and behavior.

1)  Most online "psychological screening" tests or quizzes to see if you have something or are a likely candidate to have somethings are usually designed to produce a "yes" answer. The people who take them are either doing so for a laugh (the minority) or are really looking for an answer to a nagging question in their life (the majority). Those folks in the majority are more likely to believe something they read online and before they know it they have the symptom or condition or whatever it was the quiz was trying to see if they had.

Seriously? Womb Twin Survivors? That is simply another ridiculous psychological or pseudo-physical condition for people to have. I suspect that a pharmaceutical company will have a pill for this in only a few years...which means they are probably the ones behind this questionnaire and/or "study" in the first place--it is the first stage of marketing, which is to create the need or market for a product.

Why don't "womb twin survivors" view themselves as fighters and winners? Why do they have to have problems? They won! That is something to celebrate, not bemaon the "loss" of a "twin" who might never have existed in the first place. *sigh*

 2)  I was going to ask if thinking that this is utter bullshit was a sign that you're not a lone twin, but you covered it a lot better than my smartass comment.

Honestly, this reminds me of astrology. People like to think that there is a *special* reason for their perfectly normal feelings of alienation and existential angst, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depend on how full your glass is) this is just part of What It Means to Be Human.

Show me a scientific basis for this, and I might change my smartass opinion. Until then, I'll point out all the images I can see in the clouds.

3) I took the second test and found it really vague. There was even a question that forced me to pick an answer slanted toward the twin thing with a no 'none of the above' choice. Based on the leading questions, I would say definitely no for me, if such a condition exists.

300 references and everything the sceptics need to know!

Borderline personality disorder: Borderline personality disorder is commonly seen in all psychiatric and medical settings. It is marked by instability of self-image, mood, behavior, and relationships.

Histrionic personality disorder may represent a subgroup of borderline personality disorder patients who share the emotional volatility and instability in relationships.

People with borderline personality disorder are hypersensitive. They tend to believe that they were deprived of adequate care during childhood and consequently feel empty, angry, and entitled to nurturing. As a result, they relentlessly seek care and are sensitive to its perceived absence. Their relationships tend to be intense and dramatic. When feeling cared for, they appear like lonely waifs who seek help for their depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, somatic complaints, and past mistreatments. When they fear loss of the caring person, they frequently express inappropriate and intense anger. These mood shifts are typically accompanied by extreme shifts in their view of the world, themselves, and other people—eg, from bad to good, from hated to loved. When they are upset or feel self-hatred, they often harm themselves. When they feel abandoned, they dissociate, have brief episodes of psychotic thinking, or become desperately impulsive, sometimes engaging in suicidal acts.

Patients with borderline personality initially tend to evoke intense, nurturing responses in caregivers, but after repeated crises, vague unfounded complaints, and failures to adhere to therapeutic recommendations, these patients can evoke hostile, negative responses.

Borderline personality disorder is likely to remit (in about 50% by 2 yr and 85% by 10 yr), and once it remits, it usually does not relapse. However, this reduction of symptoms is not associated with a comparable improvement in social functioning. After 10 yr, only about 20% have stable relationships or full-time employment.

This is really my twin's Enjy's place, not mine. S/He does not have any other place in this world. S/He was miscarried at age four months in the womb. We were twins and made to be together for years and we were torn apart within seconds. This is the place where I go to talk to him/her and about him/her. Anyone who has lost a twin in utero or very early is very welcome here to read and share. Anjy

 It's not like I remember going shopping the day before yesterday and never finding that yellow jumper I wanted so badly. It's more like a picture that's saved somewhere in my brain, in a region words have no access to. I can see it all at once, in one piece, but when I try to describe it, things become blurry. I guess, this is what it must be like if you see something with your eyes and have no words to attach to it. So this is what hides behind the words I now have to use and hadn't at that time.

Chimerism is a strange beast. Scientifically, it’s the persistence of cells from two (or more) people in one body. Firm numbers remain elusive, but most—if not all—humans are probably a little chimeric, since mothers and fetuses commonly exchange cells during pregnancy. Such chimeric cells can invade organs throughout the body, including the brain, and scientists have found tantalizing links between chimerism and autoimmune diseases, in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissue. Beyond strictly medical issues, chimerism also raises psychological questions about child development, sexual identity, mother-child bonding, and even what constitutes the self.

A good place to start your investigations! And it's free!

The right stuff. Saturday March 16, 2013

What went wrong? When things don't go to plan, we want to know why, and this applies to moods just as much as it does to missions. When you're down, it's understandable to believe that there must be a cause or reason (even though there isn't always one - sometimes low mood can just strike of its own accord).

But there's a different sort of question which we don't ask nearly enough: what went right? If you have a day on which you feel better than usual, it really makes sense to try and pin down why. This time you may be more likely to succeed. Good moods are often inspired by something, or a collection of things. Feeling good isn't simply the absence of bad - it actually needs to be the presence of good. Of course it helps to know what might take you down so you can avoid it, but it's just as useful to know what may take you up. So you can do more of it.

http://moodscope.blogspot.co.uk/

Never Really Alone tells the tale of Sarah Jane Foster, a young girl who at the tender age of seven, loses one half of herself to death. In June of 1958, her twin sister Miranda Jean, drowns in the river that runs through their farm.

Is it because she's unable to deal with the loss, so her mind solves the problem, or could it be that Miranda Jean has really returned from the dead on the day of the funeral? Of course, seven-year-old children who claim to see those who have passed on must be ill, mustn't they?

In 1958, child psychiatry was a child itself, and treatment was by today's standards somewhat shocking. Needless to say, Sarah Jane's world was turned more than upside down. It was as if she had been dropped into the middle of a battlefield.

Thus begins Sarah Jane's journey from happy-go-lucky twin to broken half of a whole - and her attempt to rebuild that life. All the while, still attached to her ghostly, but very real to her, sister. On the one hand, clinging to her with every fiber of her being - yet at the same time, yearning to be her own person with one voice.

Miranda Jean and Sarah Jane were identical twins, what their nanny Sousa called two peas in a pod. Never alone but always together. When they are seven Miranda Jean is drowned in the river that runs through their property. Life is never the same for her sister. It seems that Miranda Jean doesn't want to leave yet and that becomes a terrible problem for Sarah Jane. She first appears at the funeral, wearing of all things the plaid bathing suit she died in. When told that Miranda was back, Sarah's parents put her into the care of a psychiatrist who does electric shock treatments to try to bring her back to reality. this is a story of the love of a set of sisters that transcends death and the coming of age of Sarah Jane. It was well written and grabs you from the start. I totally enjoyed the book

The book - £18.99 post free

The phenomenon of twins and multiple prenates in gestation, and the impact of either the prenatal or postpartum loss of one or more of them has been an area discounted as significant regarding its impact on parents and surviving offspring by both the medical and mental health community up until about 25 years ago. Artificial Reproductive Techniques [ART], especially in-vitro fertilization [IVF], has spurred on the use of the sonogram, whereby medical professionals and parents could see, from the first trimester, what was occurring gestationally within the uterus of a pregnant woman. As a result, the phenomenon of the "blighted" twin or multiples, which had previously been a theoretical "rumor" or construct of the "dream world of the womb," now has a basis for credulity. 

The initial one third of the book is devoted to defining and explaining the reproductive process and the many variations that occur in twin and multiple offspring creation, whether they come to full gestation and live birth or not. The multiplicities of dynamics occurring in the prenatal womb environment are well summarized and presented, as is the deep significance and profundity of the loss of the twin or multiple siblings on the surviving offspring. The long-term impact on one's sense of identity, self esteem, and over all mental health and wellbeing, as well as the impact on childhood and adult relationships are all addressed. The psychological signs and symptoms of womb survivor stress are also identified and discussed within this book. The final section presented the healing path involved in awakening from the dream of being a womb twin survivor and realization that the losses perceived are real and actually not a dream or a fabric of the imagination. Hayton also includes the techniques and the processes that are efficacious in accomplishing this healing work.
Womb Twin Survivors provides a comprehensive presentation of the information being gleaned through the research being done as a result of these earlier sonogram findings, the prenatal womb environment. The long term and profound impact such losses have on the sense of self and social relationships for a sibling that has experienced the death of a twin and also for the loss for parents is well explored and supported. Woven throughout the didactic information presented are personal vignettes of people's experience as womb survivors or parents of womb survivors and blighted twins or multiples, which gives a personal touch to the scientific information being presented.
It is a book that medical and mental health professionals in the field of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health need to read and have a part of their professional library. 

Here she is:  

Kelduyn R Garland

 I am reading Two Little Birds this morning at 4 different nursing homes for senior citizens. The residents are from ages 80-103 years of age. A head nurse called me and asked me if I would mind reading it to book clubs.It will be interesting to hear their discussion on Two Little Birds! I will let you know if any interesting conversation comes I up about twins. I imagine there is so muchin their hearts!

Had to let you know that the response from the nursing home residents was amazing from the reading of Two Little Birds. I wish you could have been there. Several talked about having been a twin and others who thought that they might have been. We even read the last pages in the book. I stayed for over 2 hours with each place listening to their stories about twins. Was so beautiful and sweet.

an example

Case of vanishing twin in Haifa hospital

Published:  05.01.13, 14:43 / Israel News

Physicians at the Rambam Medical Center are fighting for the life of a newborn whose twin brother had died in utero and was partially reabsorbed into his body. Two days ago doctors surgically removed some of the dead fetus' organs, yet they said the baby is still not out of danger.
The hospital staff said some 150 cases of twin embolisation syndrome, or vanishing twin syndrome, are recorded in modern medical history. (Ahia Raved)

• Parasitic twin: A variant of the conjoined or Siamese twin. Occurs only in monozygotic twins. Some parts of one twin are attached to or within the body of the co-twin. ( an example)
  
  
• Twin embolization syndrome. Twin embolization syndrome is a complication of monozygotic twinning following in utero death of the co-twin.  Basically, blood clots, or even dead tissue, can pass into the body of the sole survivor if the major blood vessels have become connected via the placenta.
• Vanishing twin syndrome: A term coined in 1980 to described the specific situation where a twin pregnancy is seen on ultrasound scan but a few weeks later there is only one baby.  This can  happen in any kind of  twin or multiple pregnancy - identical or fraternal.  A common sign is vaginal bleeding in the pregnant mother.

“Cynthia” was in her early 40’s and morbidly obese. Her husband brought her in because her hoarding was threatening to destroy their marriage. Cynthia had recently lost a baby, her second miscarriage. Her hoarding, like so many others depicted on the A & E show “Hoarders” and TLC’s “Hoarders: Buried Alive” was rooted in the emptiness of grief and loss, compounded by abandonment, deprivation and loss in her own childhood. No wonder she was filling herself and the house as fast as she could.

How to find out if you are a womb twin survivor