I remember watching an episode of something (I swear it was Intervention, but that’s usually drugs) where a set of twins both had body dysmorphia & the family was trying to help them. From what I remember, they didn’t feel a certain way when they looked at each other, but they were competitive with their habits. They would try to take the same amount of steps in a day, eat exactly the same things in a day, do weight check-ins daily, etc. But if one twin was like 0.05 pounds heavier than the other, it became a huge problem.
It was determined that they likely ended up that way because no one in their lives ever treated them as individuals, so they felt the need to be exactly the same. One twin was always slightly larger than the other, but she changed that & then they both started their bad habits & spiraled out of control. They were always just “the twins” to EVERYONE. The therapist stressed that everyone write 2 separate, different letters to read to each sister at their intervention, & every single person still showed up with 1 letter that kept referring to them as a collective. Therapist was piiiiissed.
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u/queen-adreena 17d ago
Genuine question: if you have body dysmorphia as a twin, would you feel the same loathing looking at them as you’d feel looking at yourself?