Elvis and Dick lost twin siblings as babies, Jesse and Jane respectively. The tragic events tormented them throughout most of their lives, even as their dead twins doubled as their constant guides/daemons (voices in their heads, dream visitors, consciences). What they underwent is sometimes known psychologically as a Twinless Survivor (or Womb Twin Survivor). Briefly, the condition is a mixture of survivor’s guilt and constant seeking of the greater questions of life (especially destiny). As I write in the book:
Phil survived, but like Elvis, he was “haunted for the rest of his life by his missing Other.” And like Elvis, the most monumental event of his life happened very early—including the damage that came with it, the nagging, eternal guilt of surviving. As Phil said: “I felt guilty—somehow I got all the milk.”
Twinless Survivors are often creative souls and profound thinkers, but on the shadow side, they tend to be workaholics, addiction-prone, and self-destructive.
Elvis and Dick had dysfunctional relationships with their mothers, while their fathers were beta males sidelined at many points in their lives. The King suffered the disorder known as lethal enmeshment, a destructive and extreme codependence when a mother smothers a child and makes them a de facto proxy spouse. Raised by Gladys, he found himself eternally on the poles of being a responsible adult and a mischievous child, unable to establish healthy boundaries or a firm sense of self. On the other extreme, Dick’s mother, Dorothy, was distant and cold, which also caused psychic damage to the author while growing up.
Due to the loss of their twins, bouts of harsh poverty, and abusive parental dynamics, both Elvis and Dick were never able to maintain healthy, intimate relationships with other people, especially women. ~~ Miguel Conner