Mental Health Lessons – Award-winning documentary Three Identical Strangers features the story of triplets separated at birth and reunited in their teens, and the ensuing media circus that followed their ‘discovery’. Audiences worldwide have loved their amazing story and it’s been a monster hit both critically and commercially, but hidden within this incredible tale is a big lesson for anyone concerned with mental health.
The triplet’s story is so compelling because, to some degree, of the dramatic twist revealed half way through the film. Warning: spoilers ahead, but you don’t need to have watched the film to read and understand this article…
The triplets – Edward Galland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran – discover they were the subject of an experiment conducted by a psychologist associated with the adoption agency who separated them and arranged their placements. Think about the implications of this for a few seconds – how would you feel if your whole life was based on an experiment? Naturally, the triplets find the truth pretty shocking.
But, by purposely placing one of the trio with a blue-collar (working class) family, the second with a middle-class family and the other with a wealthy family, the experiment hoped to offer some insight into the nature vs nurture debate. In the 60s (the triplets were born in 1961), this was a popular topic of conversation and research amongst mental health professionals and having three subjects who share the genome to follow for a lifetime as the grow up in different environments was one way to help answer some important questions, regardless of the obvious ethical problems posed by such a study.
The nature vs nurture debate asks if a genetic pre-disposition to suffer from, for example, poor mental health over-rides external factors such as the environment you grow up in, or vice versa. Are you hard-wired to suffer from depression whatever happens in your childhood or adult life, or does the environment you grow up in matter more? Do both matter equally, or does one matter more than the other? The benefits of studying three nearly-identical people growing up in three different environments become obvious when you scratch the surface of the debate.
In the 70s and 80s, the nature vs nurture debate began to look more favourably toward nature-based theories as scientific advances revealed more about our brains complexity and their chemistry than ever before. Managing brain chemistry could be the answer to mental health problems, many leading psychologists thought.
The triplets amazing story was first revealed in 1980 when two of the three enrol in the same college and the other sees a news story about his siblings and joins the dots. Don’t forget: in the 1980s there was no internet and people derived their news and entertainment from a handful of TV channels and radio networks in the USA. Thus, the triplets and their incredible story were on nearly every major chat show and news broadcast – they became really famous, fast.
On much of the coverage, the three display apparently striking similarities and the media’s narrative is focused on how similar they were, despite not having grown up together. They looked the same, sounded the same and dressed the same. The examples of these similarities are, of course, subject to a high degree of confirmation bias. They all smoke the same brand of cigarettes! Wow! Except the brand (Marlboro) is the most popular in America in 1979 by some margin, making it highly likely that such a coincidence would occur.
Beyond these superficial similarities, which the media lap up in celebration of how apparently amazing human genes are to have directed three separate people to end up with so much in common, all are revealed to have suffered from poor mental health. In 1995 one of three, Galland, commits suicide. The film also hints at emotional problems suffered by their biological mother.
Again, on initial inspection this appears to be confirmation of the “nature” aspect taking control of the triplet’s destiny regardless of their parenting. But consider the context: three young men – all adopted – are thrown into the media spotlight suddenly and with no preparation for what they were about to experience. From the age of 19, they were superstars and did everything together, even opening a restaurant called Triplets. During this process, they discover that the direction of their entire lives was decided by someone else as part of a medical experiment. They had no choice in the matter.
Considering this, and the high incidence of mental health issues amongst people who suffer sudden and unexpected life changes, it’s actually not that surprising that all suffered from depression during their lives. Across the general population in America, prevalence of depression across a lifetime is roughly 15% – and several times higher amongst those who suffer traumatic or stressful events early in life.
Given the circumstances, it’s likely the three felt they had little control over their lives in general and mental health – after all, they appeared to be the product of an experiment that demonstrated just how strong their genetic connections were, and meeting their apparently unwell mother just confirmed the view that it’s all about the genes.
However, it’s far more likely that the environment they grew up in – including their life after 1980 – had a greater impact on their mental health when the circumstances are examined. You could rightly speculate that a combination of a dramatic change in their lives, the belief that their genetics were everything to their identity, the knowledge that at least one brother had depression in his teens and the suspicion that their mother suffered from “emotional problems” led to a belief that depression would happen to them at some point.
And we know from working with thousands of people with often-lifelong depression just how strong this belief can be, especially when they’ve witnessed a family member suffering also or have experienced traumatic events. Plus, the media do little to suggest that depression is anything other than a magical disease happening to us that we can only hope to cope with, not overcome, so seeing this belief system around mental health in action even forty years ago is no surprise.
As this demonstrates, the power of belief works both ways – if you believe with all your being that you’re genetically disposed to become depressed, then that’s what will happen at some point in your life. But, like the 85% of people who don’t suffer from depression during their lifetime and don’t believe that depression will happen to them, if you believe otherwise then it’s unlikely that you will suffer from long-term depression.
So, the big lesson is this: if you’re suffering from depression: whatever your genetic background, even if a parent or family member is depressed, it is possible to change that belief system and overcome mental health challenges. You are not hardwired to suffer and it’s not your fault. You just haven’t been taught how to manage your mental health so it works for you, not against.
Training courses such as The Thrive Programme offer an evidence-led, non-medicalising way of overcome depression and other mental health challenges by addressing the root causes, and changing the underlying belief system around that issue.
Often, this is the biggest factor holding someone back from being mentally well – they don’t believe it’s really possible. These people are proof that it is and that you can overcome any challenge – environmental, physical, societal – that may be negatively influencing your mental health.
If you or someone you know is suffering from a mental health issue such as depression, please get in contact with your nearest Thrive Programme Coach® today or buy a copy of the book-based course for adults or teenagers. Mental Health Lessons
