Table of Contents
Foreword to the second edition
Introduction
1. Twins – a rare phenomenon?
2. Interview with a specialist in prenatal medicine/Ultrasound Scans
- The life of a growing child inside the womb
- The implantation of multiple egg cells is not always visible on an ultrasound scan
3. From conception to birth
4. The implantation of twins
- Unidentical Twins/Identical Twins
- Multiple identical embryos exist as well
- The psychological significance of the different twin types
- What can be seen on an ultrasound scan?
- How frequently are twins born?
6. Pregnancy by artificial fertilization
- When is an artificial fertilization appropriate?
- The preparation-How exactly does an artificial fertilization work?
- The stimulation Conception in the laboratory
- The transfer of embryos
- How many women will actually become pregnant?
- Financial, physical and psychological difficulties for the woman or the couple
- Sperm donations by unknown sperm donors
- Are children different who were born in laboratories?
- Why are so many embryos created?
7. Reduction of multiple embryos due to hormone treatment and artificial Fertilization
- Multiple embryos pose a big problem
- How an embryo reduction is done
8. The embryo perceives and remembers
- The Field Memory
- Extra-Physical Memory
- Body-linked Memory
- The Hearing Sense
- What does a developing human embryo hear
- The Touch Sense
- The Taste Sense
- The Seeing Sense
- An extensive network
- Our brain and body are information banks
- What does an unborn child remember
9. What happens to the deceased embryo?
- The significance of the placenta for the child after birth
- The placenta – philosophy and cult in Bali and Australia
- The ingrown embryo
- The soul of the vanished twin
10. Living twins are deeply attached to one another
- Twins divide their skills between them
- The drama at birth and its mark on a twin’s later life
- An exception:
When twins don’t get on at all – the story of Christian and Ingo
11. One twin dies during birth
- Christoph – his twin sister had died during birth
- Marianne – her twin brother died shortly before birth
12. The drama inside the womb
- How I lost my brother – Thomas’ story
- Acquired helplessness
- An attempted abortion
13. Is a pregnant mother aware of the death of a twin?
14. The report of a midwife
15. The suffering of a surviving twin: the symptoms
- Physical repercussions in the twin who was born alone
- Organic malformations: Hearing difficulties
- Spinal malformations
- The ingrown foetus – Dermoidcyst and theratome Malformations of the genital organs
- Psychosomatic repercussions:
- Vertigo- Tightness in the chest/heart pain
- Panic attacks, violent shivering, tachycardia and fear of death
- Shivering fits and grinding of one’s teeth-
- Skin diseases
- Other psychosomatic disorders
- Psychological repercussions of an early loss:
- Guilt feelings -
- because the survivor had more luck then the vanished twin
- because one has taken the other’s place, thereby causing his death
- because one has taken the other’s place, thereby causing his death
- because -one has ‘devoured’ the other
- because the survivor could not help the dying twin to stay alive
- Loneliness
- Loneliness and depression
- My first winter without depression in 10 years
- Sticking’ to friends
- Weakness- Persecution complex, fear of physical contact and panic attacks in elevators
- Panic Attacks
- Jealousy
- Dreams of a murderer and his victim
- An insatiable hunger for touch
- Repetitive bad luck and professional failure
- Difficulties having children
- Longing for death – In order to be reunited with the dead twin
16. With one leg inside the realm of the dead
- Janina’s diabetes
17. The left and right brain hemispheres of twins
- Identical twins are not completely identical
- Little Peter’s difficulties with math
18. The difficulties experienced by a twin who was born alone
- Reflections of a vanished twin in the daily activities of his surviving sibling
- The job-If I am successful, I will betray my twin sister – Kathrin’s story
- My soul was torn out of my body by an abortion – Barbara’s story
- Animals replace the missing twin
- Sophia’s Dog
- The death of Janina’s cat
- The horse
- The long search for the lost twin in the big wide world
- Visits to the gay sauna – Christoph’s story
- A whole in the aura – Charlotte’s psychological hunger
- The death of a close one reawakens the memory of the great catastrophe
- My granny has died – Monika’s story
- Tremendous jealousy – Doris
- Disgust for oneself and for the partner – Monique
19. Relationships: twins love differently
- If there is no other, he cannot be missed
- Some half twins look for deep proximity in relationships, they want to fuse
- Some half twins avoid deep proximity and relationships, they want to run away
- Everybody has distinct relationship needs
- At last I have found the right woman – Hermann
- The desperate search for proximity – Andrea’s story
- When a separation does not succeed – Johannes
- When only one partner desires the other – Heiner’s story
- Not with you and not without you – Gabriele’s story
- Twelve years without a partner – Kathrin
- A love triangle
20. Difficult children often long for their lost twin
Françoise cannot sleep at night-Bob, the Ritalin-child
21. When parents have lost a twin
- A child sometimes replaces a lost twin
- Coloured hair to replace the vanished twin sister of one’s mother – Colette’s story
- Another pattern in comparison: sometimes the child represents a childhood sweetheart
- Confusion about the relationship between mother and child
- Irene suffers from migraines – she lacks her mother’s support
- Panic attacks for fear of not being a good mother – Nadja
22. A vanished twin as cause of other psychological problems
- The gay buddy – Monika-Life support – Anja
- No luck in love with the most beautiful woman in the world
- Some autistic people have lost a twin
- Some anorexics have lost a twin
23. Rediscovering the vanished twin
- How do we know that someone has lost a twin?
- An Exploration of Mental Images
- Physical Experiences during an Age Regression: The Scenic Reconstruction of the Uterus
- Family Constellations
- Kinesiological Muscle Testing
- Deep Relaxation in Warm Water
(Aqua-Release®, Watsu®, Aqua-Vida…) - Rebekka’s Report of an Aqua-Release®-Session in the Springs of Saturnia, Tuscany
- Can this method also be applied to children
24. On the road towards healing
- "Step out of there, little blood brother, … learn how to fall"
- The other
- A lost twin has not always the same impact
- Recovery from the inner state of shock
- Tapping of acupressure points
- Shock recovery with the aid of eye muscle exercises
- Some guilt feelings do not go away
- Healing Rituals
- Beware of elephants in a china shop
- The cruel fate of some half twins
- Jacqueline
- A half twin sometimes doubts the existence of the other twin and cuts himself off from this experience
- Other events that have a similar impact as the vanished twin
- From desire for death to hunger of life
- Lara’s interview five years after rediscovering the vanished twin
- Ode for a vanished brother
26. Artistic, sensitive or wise people – the strong points of surviving twins
27. Musicians in search of their twin
- Michael Jackson's secret longing
- Lyrics full of longing
- Leonard Cohen
- Longing - A song by the author
28. Vanished twins in fairy tales
- Brother and Sister- Rapunzel
29. Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Bibliography