Divided Minds: A Memior About Identical Twins' Experience with Schizophrenia

Divided Minds, a book written by identical twins, Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn S. Spiro, is an autobiographical story about growing up. Staring with their childhood, dealing with jealousy and resentment toward each other and yet a special connection between the twins. You get the privilege to watch them grow from little children, into teenagers dealing with issues as their bodies, food disorders, competing for attention and witness a stark difference between the two as they get older. The stark difference is this: Pamela starts to hear voices while Carolyn doesn't.

Pamela was always the successful child. The one who got better grades and was thought to be the smarter child. The more outgoing, social savvy, gifted, and passionate one out of the two. Carolyn always felt as if she lived in Pamela's shadows until the fateful day when Pamela started to crumble. As a young teenager, Pamela started to hear voices, saying that she killed JFK, among other delusions. As time passed by, she became less social, keeping her thoughts to herself with the exception of a few revelations to her twin sister.

Nobody knew or suspected that something was wrong until it was too late. As Pamela started to attend school at Brown University as an undergraduate, her reality as she knew it started to fall apart. It became difficult to keep up with school, and even more difficult to get along with people. After attempting to overdose, she ends up at a mental ward but still refuses to admit that she hears voices. Later on she decided to attend medical school, but drops out during her second year as she fully plunges into Schizophrenia and starts her cycle of being hospitalized on and off. However at one point, she discovers poetry and becomes a committed poet and writer.

Carolyn often felt as if she could not shine due to how bright her twin sister would shine as a child and as a teenager. However as they both entered Brown University, Carolyn saw this as her chance to separate from Pamela and develop an identity that would not constantly be known as Pamela's twin sister. As Pamela started her downward spiral into schizophrenia, Carolyn ends up in medical school, and eventually becomes a psychiatrist. While Carolyn becomes a wife and a mother, she remains connected to Pamela through phone calls. Once her marriage ends into a divorce, Carolyn starts to see Pamela more, visiting her and providing support.

This bittersweet and heartbreaking story is told in alternating voices of the twins and is a wonderful read. I finished reading this book from beginning to end within three days! This story is perfect for anybody who is interested in psychology, mental illness, identical twins, and memoirs.