Exploring betweenness: an autoethnographic journey into the experience of twinship and its therapeutic implications

With the pronounced increase in twin births since the 1980s, a corresponding need has arisen to better understand the intricacies of twinship and the aspects that may help and hinder twins throughout their lives. This is especially important for counselling psychologists and psychotherapists, yet at present they face a problematic knowledge gap; although a substantial body of psychological research exists on twins, the voices of twins themselves remain largely absent. In response to this, using an autoethnographic methodology this study reclaims a representational space in psychology research for the unheard and sometimes marginalised voices of twins, who are often unknowingly managing the complex situation of existing within and between the ‘twin-world’ and the ‘non-twin world.’ Three twins were invited to discover and articulate their experience of twinship and of being a client in psychological therapy through reflexive dyadic interviews, which are presented as a series of stories of twinship, along with the author’s own account. Analysis of these narratives using the Listening Guide method elicited themes for discussion, organised under five superordinate thematic categories: spatial contexts of twinship; twin bodies; twin-bond and attachment; being in the non-twin-world, and from harmony to estrangement. Practice-based implications and considerations for clinical work with twins are subsequently proposed, with the psychotherapeutic situation identified as a potentially helpful and healing ‘between world’ for twins. The ways in which twins react differently from singletons to counselling and psychotherapy is just beginning to be understood with clarity and seriousness of purpose. This study offers a much-needed contribution to the existing literature on this subject by foregrounding the subjective experience of twins themselves.