Frequently Asked Question - Bereavement

Twins and their families often contact the ATR for information that may help when a twin dies. 

Books

Nancy Segal (US researcher) did a Twin Study of Bereavement with the Australian Twin Registry back in 1994. Her biography is available at http://psych.fullerton.edu/nsegal/biography.html

Nancy is a renowned researcher, interested in the psychology and sociology of twins. She has written multiple books on the topic, many of which touch on the grief of twin loss. A quick search using Amazon came up with these titles:

Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins by Nancy L. Segal

Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior by Nancy L. Segal

Other books of relevance are:

The Empty Room: Surviving the Loss of a Brother or Sister at Any Age (Hardcover) by Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn

Surviving the Death of a Sibling: Living Through Grief When an Adult Brother or Sister Dies by T.J. Wray

Joan Woodward; The Lone Twin (Free Association Books Ltd., London, 1998)

Elizabeth Mehren; After the Darkest Hour. A Parent's guide to coping with the loss of a child, (Fireside, New York, 1997).

Organisations 

There are also organisations and web forums that are based around the world:

TwinlessTwins.org

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/twinlesstwins/

http://www.upnaway.com/~junem/

http://www.compassionatefriends.org/

http://www.twinloss.org.nz/

For a list of bereavment support groups worldwide (compiled 2002) see: http://www.atypon-link.com/AAP/doi/pdf/10.1375/twin.5.3.252

Journal Articles

Scientists publish their findings in scientific journals, which are indexed on the PubMed indexing service.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

For a bit of a tutorial on how to use this service go to:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pubmed_tutorial/m1001.html

Doing a search on the key words: "twin bereavement" found the following. There may be further articles if you widen the search terms to include other words that are relevant to your specifc query. A Uni Library should be able to help you locate these articles in hardcopy, but some should be available as electronic versions – it depends on what type of service the researcher has paid for for that particlar article.

An entire edition of the scientific research journal Twin Research and Human Genetics was dedicated to Twin Loss. Please see:

http://www.atypon-link.com/AAP/toc/twin/5/3

Bereavement in Twin Relationships: An Exploration of Themes from a Study of Twinship

Alison M. McDonald

http://www.atypon-link.com/AAP/doi/pdf/10.1375/twin.5.3.218

Psychobiological and evolutionary perspectives on coping and health characteristics following loss: a twin study.

Segal NL, Blozis SA.

Twin Res. 2002 Jun;5(3):175-87

Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton 92834, USA. nsegal@fullerton.edu

An analysis of coping, grief and health characteristics is reported for a bereaved monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) same-sex twin sample. The data were examined with reference to psychobiological and evolutionary perspectives on behavior. A Coping Scale, included as part of a comprehensive Twin Loss Survey (TLS), assessed coping with daily responsibilities and activities 1-2 months before the co-twin's death, 1-2 months following the co-twin's death and currently. A Grief Intensity Scale obtained judgments of grief 1-2 months following the loss, and currently. Information on physical symptoms was available from the Somatization Scale of the Grief Experience Inventory. Psychobiological and evolutionary perspectives specified hypotheses for two twin groups: one model was specified to reflect bereavement experiences immediately following loss of the co-twin (retrospective twin group); a second model represented present bereavement response (current twin group). Consistent with psychobiological theory, twins' social closeness showed a positive association with grief intensity which, in turn, affected somatic symptoms and coping efficacy in predicted directions. With respect to evolutionary psychological theory, the effect of zygosity on current grief implicated correlates of genetic relatedness as factors in the bereavement process.

PMID: 12184885 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Visions of the dead: imagination and mourning.

Death Stud. 2003 Oct;27(8):691-716

Becker SH, Knudson RM.

University Counseling and Testing Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA. shbtml@cs.com

Contemporary research recognizes the existence of an ongoing attachment between the mourner and the deceased. This research tends to focus on the subjective aspects of the attachment--the mourner's memory and emotions. A complementary perspective is offered by archetypal psychology, which considers the deceased to exist outside the mourner's subjectivity as an autonomous image.This approach is illustrated by an exemplary case: a woman named Verda who experienced the death of her twin sister,Vera.Their account suggests that Verda's mourning derives from her encounters with Vera's continuing imaginal presence.

PMID: 14535278 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Personal experiences of bereaved twins, parents of twins, and their carers.

Twin Res. 2002 Jun;5(3):236-44.

Pector EA, Green J, Ehlers M, Carr KR, Larsen SB, Monaghan O, Damoiseau J, Wheeler M, Read B, Cuff J, Glahn A.

Pector@enteract.com

We invited bereaved twins, parents of twins and carers to describe some of their personal experiences. We are grateful to all of them for their brave candour. We gave extra space to Kathy's story about the impacts of the loss of her own twin because it vividly illustrates the profound connections twinship can generate. Similarly we thought the cruelly long and complex saga of the life and death of Maxine's twins could help understanding of the distressing repercussions that often attend the low birth weight and prematurity that are so common amongst multiple births.

PMID: 12184893 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Twin death and mourning worldwide: a review of the literature.
Twin Res. 2002 Jun;5(3):196-205. Review.

Spectrum Family Medicine, Naperville, Illinois 60540-8138, USA. Pector@enteract.com

Cultural beliefs about the nature of multiples appear in the mourning practices of many civilizations. Ethnographic literature suggests common themes that echo modern concepts. Many societies viewed twins as fragile, likely to die without preferential or meticulously equal treatment. A shared soul between twins is a common tenet, and the death of one is often felt to herald the other's prompt demise. The close relationship between multiples influences funerary rites. Honor, fear and mysticism are often evident in rituals. Twin infanticide was widely practiced, yet mourning customs were still observed. Many peoples recognize the special status of multiples and their families after one, two or more die.

PMID: 12184887 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Bereavement in twin relationships: an exploration of themes from a study of twinship.
Twin Res. 2002 Jun;5(3):218-26.

Department of Psychology, City University, London, UK. A.Macdonald@city.ac.uk

The primary foci of twin research have been on twins as a biological phenomenon, on the management of medical complications of twin pregnancy and birth and on the study of individual differences and development by psychologists and geneticists for whom twins provide a powerful research tool. The twin relationship - twinship - has received less research attention, including the aspect of bereavement which may occur at any stage of life. This paper presents some findings from a qualitative study that used grounded theory methodology to explore the nature of twinship especially issues relevant to psychological counselling with twins. Fourteen participants were interviewed in-depth about their understanding and experience of twinship. Participants were selected who had a rich knowledge and experience of twinship and of therapeutic work. Segments of transcribed interviews were constantly compared to describe and elaborate frequently repeated concepts in the data. Two of the main themes of discernment, the core category of the theory of twinship, are described. These are 'defining boundaries' and 'managing ambiguity'. Aspects of these as experienced by twins are discussed in the light of current psychological theories about bereavement.

PMID: 12184890 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Panel discussion. Grief and bereavement with the loss of a twin.
Twin Res. 2002 Jun;5(3):150-2. No abstract available.

The bereaved twin.
Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma). 1988;37(2):173-80.

Woodward J.

West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy, Uffculme Clinic, Birmingham, UK.

This three-year study was based on individual interviews of over 200 bereaved MZ and DZ adult twins. Its purpose was to record the lone twins' response to the loss of their twin and to investigate factors that correlated with either the severity or amelioration of the loss.

The death of a twin: mourning and anniversary reactions. Fragments of 10 years of self-analysis.
Int J Psychoanal. 1975;56(1):23-40. No abstract available.

Engel GL.