Cruel experiment: why were the triplets separated and what came of it?

The birth of twins is akin to a miracle of nature. Especially if they are identical twins. Not only that, they are indistinguishable from each other externally. They are very similar in character, often suffer from "common" diseases and choose the same path in life. From the point of view of genetics, this is a scientific phenomenon, which has been studied by many scientists over the years. The psychiatrist Peter Neubauer became most famous - not for scientific achievements, but for a cruel experiment. For the sake of science, he decided to separate the triplets at birth, give them to different families, and watch their development. What came of it, read in our material.

Three lives, three families, one destiny

The middle of the last century was a real breakthrough in psychology. Many scientific theories have come into being that have linked mental problems and features of human development with heredity and the genetic factor. The power of genetics became more and more obvious, and scientists were divided into two camps: some believed determining upbringing and the environment in which a person grows up, while others argued that genes in any case will take their.

These positions can be confirmed or refuted only experimentally. And in 1962, psychologist Peter Neubauer found such an opportunity. In one of the maternity hospitals in New York, a teenage girl gave birth to three identical twins and abandoned them at birth. Peter thought this was the perfect chance to do a scientific genetic experiment. At his suggestion, at the age of six months, children were placed in different foster families with different levels of income.

One boy ended up in a working-class family, the second - to people with average incomes, the third - to a rich and prosperous family. None of the adoptive parents knew that the child had twin brothers. The main condition for adoption was regular visits to a psychiatrist: parents were told that the doctor should monitor the development of the baby. At first, the boys were brought to the doctor every quarter: Neubauer gave the children tests for cognitive abilities, talked with them, learned about their habits and preferences. As they grew older, visits to the doctor became less and less - in adolescence, children went to a psychiatrist once a year.

According to his observations, Neubauer prepared a whole study, but in parallel he wrote separate scientific articles. So, he noted that the triplets had a lot of common habits and even diseases. For example, in early childhood, all three boys often headbutted about the bars of the crib - the scientist called this a sign of "separation anxiety" (separation anxiety). All three had vision problems, but only one (from a wealthy family) received the right treatment. Everyone suffered from a mental breakdown - but two (from a middle-class family and wealthy parents) went to a psychologist, and a third (from a poor family) was on trial for robbery.

Wonderful triplets reunion

The boys' foster families lived in different cities in the state of New York and, according to Neubauer's idea, the twins were never supposed to meet. But genes played their surprising role here too. Robert and Edward entered the same college, only Robert came there a year later. What was the surprise of the guy when in an unfamiliar place everyone began to greet him, as with an old friend and call him by a different name. When the situation cleared up, one of his fellow students gave him Edward's phone number. Robert called this number and froze on the spot, hearing his own voice on the receiver.

When the guys met, they turned out to be similar, as two drops of water. Moreover, they had common behaviors, habits and preferences. Both smoked Marlboro, liked older women and wrestled. It seemed that they even read each other's thoughts - as soon as one began a phrase, the other immediately finished it.

This miraculous reunion was made into a TV feature, and a few days later another phone rang at Edward's house. “I think I'm third,” said a familiar voice on the phone. It was David who saw the story about the brothers on TV. When he came to visit, Edward's adoptive mother almost fainted and exclaimed: "God, they climb out of all the cracks!"

The brothers instantly gained immense popularity. Their incredible story was trumpeted on television, they were invited to the cinema (one of the most famous films is “Desperately Seeking Susan” with the singer Madonna in the title role). But most of all they rejoiced not in glory, but in the fact that they found each other. In their interviews, they said that for the first time in many years, they seemed to have found their missing parts. The guys rented one apartment for three, and a little later they opened a restaurant called Triplets (“Triples”) in one of the prestigious areas of New York. It seemed that now their joint full-fledged life was just beginning.

Big psychological problems

The main question that tormented the three brothers was why they were separated after all. At first, Neubauer refused and said that this was done for convenience. Say, one child is easier to attach to a foster family than three. Later, however, the psychologist's partner Viola Bernard revealed the secret of the experiment. And this information came crashing down on tripletslike snow on your head.

According to Robert, they began to feel like victims, a kind of laboratory mice. They were researched without even trying to help (for example, to solve problems with vision or psychological health). The brothers began to quarrel, envy and accuse each other of the stolen life. The business quickly fell apart, and everyone tried to go their own way.

Edward suffered most from the breakup, who had a difficult relationship with his adoptive father as a child. He tried his best to reconcile the brothers, and these throwings aggravated his mental state. Doctors diagnosed him with bipolar disorder: in one of the periods depression Eddie committed suicide, leaving his wife and young daughter behind. After this tragedy, David and Robert became even more distant from each other, and even completely stopped communicating. Everyone got married, David had two girls, and Robert had a daughter and a son. However, both also began to visit a psychologist: apparently, the tendency to neuroses was of a genetic nature.

The second reunion of the brothers took place in the early 2000s, during the filming of the film Three Identical Strangers. This is a documentary based on the life of triplets. During the premiere, not only the brothers, but also many viewers cried, and several doctors in front of everyone brought apologies to David and Robert from the entire medical and psychiatric community. Unfortunately, Peter Neubauer, who died 10 years earlier, in 2008, never admitted his guilt in this cruel experiment that crippled human lives. Until his last days, he was convinced that he acted for the benefit of science and proved the role of genes in the formation of man.

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