Janet Frame: a perfectly normal wombtwin survivor

Janet Frame was born into a poor family Dunedin New Zealand in 1924 and died of leukaemia in 2004, by which time she was - and still is - a writer of international renown. During her life she published many volumes of novel and poetry, of such a high standard that she is now counted among the greatest writers of her generation.

Janet Frame was a wombtwin survivor. Her identical twin was lost in early pregnancy. I discovered this quite by chance recently, and I also noticed that she had written an autobiography. Here was a great chance to get a glimpse inside the mind of a wombtwin survivor, who presumably was not aware, as we are now, that the loss of a twin in the womb leaves a deep psychological impression on the survivor. I bought a copy of her autobiography and I was not disappointed: here is a very fine writer indeed.

Very much as you would expect, according to her book, Janet Frame evidently felt like other wombtwin survivors who had lost their identical twin in the womb. Here was a strong side and a weak side, both described in detail in her writing for public view.

Here we see the two sides of the wombtwin survivor: the Alpha twin and the Beta twin. The wombtwin survivor lives out both aspects of their twin-ship at once, in a paradoxical mode of existence. The weaker Beta side of the wombtwin survivor can be seen in this autobiography : feeling alone; a deep haunting sense of painful grief, a need for privacy and an exquisite sensitivity to the feelings of others. The Alpha strength is here too: to survive loss and privation without rancour and build an international reputation and a strong career on a natural gift for poetry - not an easy thing to do, as any poet will tell you.

As a young girl, Janet was “full of tics and terrors”; at school she was compliant and obeyed adults, because inwardly she felt her “only place of rebellion” was within her imagination. She had once attempted suicide, (as many wombtwin survivors do) and at University she mentioned it in an autobiographical essay, submitted to her psychology lecturer, John Money. As a result of this, it was suggested that “she spend some time” in a psychiatric hospital, which she did and was later diagnosed as “schizophrenic.”

Meanwhile, her family gathered together some of her stories and sent them for publication. They were published in 1952. In 1954 this book won New Zealand's only literary award. It happened that Janet was at that time scheduled for a lobotomy (now known as a leucotomy) which was a favourite treatment of the time for chronic psychosis. The operation was famously cancelled as a result and she entered into a period of rehabilitation and was released. Many years later, in London at the Maudsely hospital, she was assessed carefully and was told she “never had schizophrenia.” By her own account, it was quite difficult at first for her to cast off this diagnosis, because it had become so firmly embedded in her sense of self.

Sadly, mental illness associated with her name has remained to this day in the public consciousness of New Zealand, as various experts have attempted to make sense of Janet Frames’ seemingly highly eccentric, if not mad, psychological makeup. It has been recently suggested that she may have suffered from “high functioning autism.”

This suggestion has been firmly refuted by her family, who knew her as a warm and outgoing personality with a great capacity for joy and a great gift for making new friends. They insist that the portrayal of Janet Frame “as a hypersensitive, wounded and isolated person, with communication and linguistic impairments, is very wrong.” She was always open to a new friendship, and in a search for kindred spirits, but she was also remarkable in that she never let go of her old friends either. She managed to tend carefully to very old and very new friendships

The outer "Alpha" Janet seems to have been strong and confident. She often stood up to and argued with her teachers. She was a leader and a debater. She was a prefect. She had close friends. According to her family “She was bossy and articulate, a jokester and a very self-assured person.”

Meanwhile, the inner "Beta' Janet, most evident in her early years, was evidently quite unsure of who she was, for she seemed unable to allow herself to be gifted unless someone told her that she was. She did not consider herself as an introspective person. She didn’t know herself, but was “hesitant in finding out.” She spend a long time in search of “imagination,” unable to find it in herself, and not able to believe that she had it - until she was told. For a long time she didn’t know that she possessed imagination, because “so far no-one had mentioned it.” However, when John Money remarked that she was “quite a talented writer,” then she could believe in herself at last.

There is a great deal more to be said about this, and it should be said. It is wrong that this wonderful warm person, who has contributed so much to the literary scene of her own country and around the world, should carry such a slur on her character. It is time that we put a stop to the misdiagnoses that so many wombtwin survivors have to endure.

The concept of “personality disorders" seems to have been invited for the sole purpose of explaining the beliefs, behaviours and attitudes of wombtwin survivors, who number 10% of the population. Wombtwin survivors are not " disordered" or "mentally ill": they are reacting perfectly normally to a rather unusual pre-birth situation.

This was a very damaging mis-diagnosis, made out of ignorance. I can't get my book written fast enough!