Margery Runyan, PhD

Margery Runyan, PhD

Twin Talk Podcast2023-02-07T14:22:04+00:00

Dr. Mercy interviews experts in the field of twins, twins themselves, other multiples, families of multiples, and experts in twin studies and families from all over the country. Search your favorite topics or simply start from the beginning. These recordings are educational to those interested in all things twin related. There are 70 episodes to choose from and discounts available for multiple purchases. Enjoy!

  • Dr. Mercy broadcasts her last Twin Talk show on World Talk Radio, reviewing her past guests and her own presentations over the year and a half that the show has been carried on World Talk Radio.  She mentions guests such as clinicians Dr. Jane Greer and Dr. Barbara Klein, physicians Dr. Kari Nardeau and Dr. Diane Powell, parapsychologists Dr. Sally Rhine Feather and Guy Playfair, dream expert Dr. Bob Van de Castle, twin moms with NOMOTC, and her own sister and mother. The twin sets who have guested are also memorable: Ana and Isa with The Power of Two movie, Sonya and Tonya facing cancer, Cheryl and Meryl, the Clark triplets, Lee and Jesse, Brenda and Linda; the twin sets seem to multiply! Dr. Mercy’s own presentations on numerology, astrology, dreams, synchronicity, symbolism, and twin myths fascinated the listeners.  She discusses her future plans and contacts. Bio: Dr. Mercy has been broadcasting Twin Talk weekly on Friday mornings since World Talk Radio recruited her and helped her create the show.  The show was live on air from April of 2010 through August of 2011 when Dr. Mercy decided to try different activities such as writing e-books on twins, traveling in Europe, living in Paris and forming a psychotherapy group in Aztec, New Mexico.  Her partner George Lane at 78 needs her attention, as do the Florida and Colorado homes. Twincerely, Dr. Mercy, broadcasting to twins and those who love us
     
  • Dr. Mercy interviews Dr. Nancy Segal, Professor of Psychology and Director of Twin Studies at the California State University, Fullerton, will be discussing twins switched at birth. As a fraternal twin, psychologist and researcher, Dr. Segal has been uniquely positioned to perform ground-breaking studies on twins including her work at the University of Minnesota with twins separated at birth and reunited in adulthood and her most recent study on the development of Chinese twins adopted internationally both apart and together. Her other research has included the behavioral similarities of virtual twins (same age unrelated children raised together) and the behavioral consequences of twin loss. Dr. Segal is considered one of the foremost experts on the nature versus nurture controversy based on her quantitative studies of twins’ behaviors. Dr. Segal will be prepared to discuss the nature of twin relationships, twin development, twins accused of cheating at school, and twin relationships within the family. Dr. Nancy Segal has written seven books about twins.  Dr. Segal has authored approximately 250 scientific articles and book chapters in addition to her many books. A recent paper won a 2007 Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Foundation. She is also an Associate Editor of Twin Research and Human Genetics, the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies. She serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals, including Twin Research and Human Genetics, Evolution and Human Behavior and Human Ethology.
  • Dr. Mercy interviews Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell, MD.  After an undergraduate education in neuroscience, Dr. Powell, a nationally prominent Johns Hopkins-trained neuropsychiatrist and former clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, examines the evidence for many types of psychic phenomena, from telepathy and precognition to psychokinesis, and finds several well-designed and rigorously supervised studies that prove the existence of some psychic phenomena. This raises the important question: how is this possible? Diane Hennacy Powell, who studies unusual psychological phenomenon has been studying twins separated and kept together at birth. She has found that some twins do have a special kind of connection and that twins that grow up together and in the same environment can become very close. (Powell MD, Diane Hennacy. "Twin Telepathy and the Illusion of Separation." Noetic Now Journal. Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2015).
     
  • Dr. Mercy provides a guided tour through the sages of the monomyth known as the hero's journey. In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. Earlier figures had proposed similar concepts, including psychologist Otto Rank and amateur anthropologist Lord Raglan. Eventually, hero myth pattern studies were popularized by Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Carl Jung's analytical psychology. Campbell used the monomyth to analyze and compare religions.
     
  • The Navajo have occupied their sacred lands in the Four Corners for centuries. The Hero Twins tells the story of two brothers born to Changing Woman and trained by the Holy People to save their people from the naayéé', a race of monsters. Kit Carson joins the story as naayéé'. Kit Carson was ordered to subdue the Navajo in New Mexico through destroying crops and starvation, forcing them to move from their ancestral lands to a distant, inhospitable reservation on the Pecos River.
     
  • Dr. Margery Runyan, psychotherapist, discusses the practices of Dr. Carl Jung, a disciple of Sigmund Freud until they separated over theoretical differences. Dr. Jung believed that the unconscious had a collective component composed of symbolic energy nodes known as archetypes. Freud believed that the unconscious was filled solely with repressed personal material. Dr. Mercy contrasts ‘symbols’ and ‘signs.’  A symbol belongs to the dream world and intuition; it resonates with deeper levels of meaning as it unfolds within the unconscious and bridges the gap to the consciousness. Signs are equations that have known meanings within the cultural consciousness.
  • Dr. Mercy interviews female 53-year-old twins who have recently been confronted with a dire diagnosis threatening the survival of the second born twin.  Sonya and Tonya believe in their hearts that they are identical. Their mother and father were not sure.  They are very similar in every way and have a strong telepathy which includes feelings each others’ emotions and symptoms.  Their lives have also been similar, marrying husbands who were insecure about the twinship, having two children (boy and girl), and staying close until Tonya developed the disease of alcoholism.  The twins talk about this disease, how they coped, Tonya’s recovery and their reunification. Tonya has recently been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and this second disease has challenged Tonya to remain hopeful and Sonya to face her twin’s mortality. Dr. Mercy will speak with them again after a biopsy is performed in August.  Stay tuned.  
  • Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, FAAAAI, is a member of the academic faculty at Stanford Medical School and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Director of Allergy Clinics at Stanford Medical Center within the Division of Immunology and Allergy. She is a practicing clinician and a prominent researcher in the field of allergies Dr. Nadeau oversees: Translational Basic Science Research in the laboratory based on tolerance mechanisms of immune cells and Clinical Research on immunotherapy and induction of desensitization vs. tolerance. The Nadeau laboratory focuses on the role of human T cells in allergic diseases. Dr. Nadeau has been working in the field of T cell tolerance for more than 22 years and hypothesizes that disruptions in the normal maintenance of tolerance by T cells lead to some human immune-mediated diseases, like food allergies and asthma. She is currently studying twins for allergy and asthma diseases and has preliminary results that she will share on the program. She is also the mother of two sets of twins.
  • Dr. Mercy speaks about her life in Paris at the age of 19 in 1968 studying at the University of Paris with her twin sister Malinda. The twins lived together in the 17th arrondissement near the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysee. There Dr. Mercy was introduced to Antoine de Saint Exupery the famous pilot and author of The Little Prince. In ‘Le Petit Prince,’ Saint Exupery describes his encounter in the desert with The Little Prince who comes from a tiny planet with three volcanoes and one rose. He tells of his travels to other planets in search of a friend and in the end learns his most important lesson from a Fox. Dr. Mercy tells his story with a depth of feeling reserved for the grandest of all lessons.
     
  • Dr. Mercy interviews Joan Angelis, a Regional Representative for Twinless Twins Support Group International. Joan talks about her twin sister...
  • Dr. Mercy discusses the process of synchronicity proposed by Dr. Carl Jung, a disciple of Sigmund Freud, a practicing psychiatrist in Switzerland during the 20th century, and a proponent of the collective unconscious. He used the term synchronicity to describe acausal events that occur simultaneously in the realm of Consciousness. In 'On the Nature of the Psyche,' Jung regretted that synchronicity is bound to the notion of Time. In mathematical terms, Time is the curvature of Space. Thus Jung concluded that the Archetypes have not only psychic reality but also relate in some fashion to the Space/Time continuum. Two events might occur at different times within the Unconscious where Time is distorted and then be linked in the Consciousness as if they occurred simultaneously. Dr. Mercy is thus compelled to speculate that Two Twins may have arrived on earth simultaneously even though in the realm of the Twin Archetype they have been joined outside of the human experience of Time.
     
  • Pt 2: Ana and Isa 39-year-old identical twins have graciously agreed to guest on another program to spotlight their book and movie... Pt 1: Anabelle and Isabelle are 39-year-old female identical twins born with the chronic lung condition known as cystic fibrosis. The twins will tell the story of their lives as they grew from very tiny infants to the surviving and thriving women that they are today. Their story includes their treatments, twin relationship, love for each other, dedication to wellness, and assistance to others with cystic fibrosis. Their journeys have been long and sometimes hard; they have undertaken each step of the way with hope and faith that they would not only live but make a difference in the world. Guess what? Their dreams have come true and their impact has been world-wide. Listen to their musical voices tell the truth of twinship. And next week listen to the program The Power of Two to learn about cystic fibrosis, their book and their movie about organ donation.
  • Anabelle and Isabelle are 39-year-old female identical twins born with the chronic lung condition known as cystic fibrosis. The twins will tell the story of their lives as they grew from very tiny infants to the surviving and thriving women that they are today. Their story includes their treatments, twin relationship, love for each other, dedication to wellness, and assistance to others with cystic fibrosis. Their journeys have been long and sometimes hard; they have undertaken each step of the way with hope and faith that they would not only live but make a difference in the world. Guess what? Their dreams have come true and their impact has been world-wide. Listen to their musical voices tell the truth of twinship. And next week listen to the program The Power of Two to learn about cystic fibrosis, their book and their movie about organ donation.
  • Dr. Mercy will discuss the experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect, research recently published by Daryl Bem. Daryl J Bem is a social psychologist and emeritus professor at Cornell University. He received his PhD in 1964 from the University of Michigan and taught there before going on to join the faculty at Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Harvard, and Cornell. He had a distinguished career in psychology, then turned his attention to parapsychology; the self-perception theory of attitude formation and change has been named after him, and he was invited to co-author one of the core international psychology textbooks, known by generations of students as ‘Hilgard and Atkinson’.
  • Cheryl and Meryl, female identical twins, are guesting on Twin Talk to provide all the details on the 2011 ITA conference taking place over Labor Day weekend in Branson, Missouri, the capital of western music.  At the conference, twins dress alike and enjoy their twinship thoroughly as do the spouses and children who accompany them. Cheryl and Meryl also have a message for twins. ‘We have to tell other twins to love each other and appreciate each other.  We never know, and you could lose your twin at any time.  We would just say enjoy your twinship.  Twins want to tell the world that we're different, but we're who we are and who we're meant to be.’ Cheryl and Meryl, identical twins, were born in Raleigh, NC on October 11.  They have no other brothers or sisters.  They live together.  They both have bachelor's degrees - were roommates in college.  They are both born-again Christians - Baptist by religion.  They believe that they were born twins because it was God's special assignment for them.  They are each other's gift from God.  These twins are very active in the International Twins Association and value their twinship from the heart of their hearts.
  • Dr. Mercy has heard from many twins that she would love the novel I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb, whose books have been popularized by the Oprah Book Club and the merits of his fictional style. The 40-year-old ‘hero’ is an identical twin whose brother has paranoid schizophrenia. The novel covers their childhood, family history (which includes twins), and his psychotherapy with a psychologist who helps him integrate these pieces of his psyche.  Dr. Mercy will be discussing the patterns of twinship attributed to the characters in the novel and their importance in the structure of the novel. Tune in and hear how Wally Lamb, a celebrated fiction writer and teacher, handles the twin theme. #1 New York Times Bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection: "Thoughtful . . . heart-wrenching . . . . An exercise in soul-baring storytelling—with the soul belonging to 20th-century America itself. It's hard to read and to stop reading, and impossible to forget."  — USA Today Dominick Birdsey, a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut, finds his subdued life greatly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. Coming to terms with his life and lineage, Dominick struggles to find forgiveness and finally rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his troubled twin. I Know This Much Is True is a masterfully told story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal—an unforgettable masterpiece.   I Know this Much is True - Amazon
  • Dr. Mercy met Karen on Pine Island in SW Florida and fell in love with her strong spirit and work...
     
  • The Clark triplets were born and raised in Perry, OK the youngest of 14 children born to Gordon and Irene Clark.  They moved to Edmond, OK in 1984 to finish their college education and all remained there until Sept, 2010 when Chris and his wife Linda moved westward to Piedmont, OK.  Cary and his wife Janet have a blended family of Kyle (21) and Dakota (12).  Chris and Linda have children Curtis (27) and Lindsay (25) and their spouses Misty and Matt, along with grandsons Coby and Logan.  Charles and Debbie have a blended family of Mazey (20), Matthew (19), Kaycee (18), and Joshua (16). The triplets all became interested in computers at a young age and have pursued careers in computer programming.  For the first 13 ½ years of their careers, they all worked at the same firm.  Since that time at least 2 have usually worked together. Currently, Cary and Chris do. Besides computers, the triplets are avid sports fans and enjoy working on classic Chevrolets. Program description: The Clark triplets are amazingly alike in every way. Raised in Oklahoma, often working and raising families nearby, they have enjoyed a journey rarely experienced, the life of triplets.  How do wives, children, bosses, even neighbors react to three identical men?  How confusing can this be?  Dr. Mercy met this handsome threesome at the International Twin Association in which they are very active.  What a delight!  She is wondering what happens when a duo becomes a threesome. What new dynamics develop?
     
  • Dr. Mercy recorded this program as a tribute to her mother Margery Wing Sisson Runyan who died on April 2, 2011 in Dayton, Ohio surrounded by her family at the age of 91.  Mother Margery and another daughter Anne were guests on an earlier Twin Talk program entitled Family Secrets available in the archives. Dr. Mercy speaks about her mother’s life and then diverges into a discussion of ‘attachment’ in primary relationships. Twins are believed to bond more closely with each other than the mother. Dr. Mercy reviews the attachment theory of John Bowlby, including the types of attachment (secure, ambivalent, avoidant), the problems related to insecure attachment, and methods to ameliorate related issues in psychotherapy.
  • Brenda Pritchett and Linda DeWitt are two of the most beautiful identical twins ever.
  • Sandy and Dr. Mercy met each other at the International Twins Association convention in Tempe, Arizona.
  • This show will explore the actual experiences of two female identical twins during childhood, adolescence and adulthood.  Lee and Jesse will relate stories from their early lives illustrating their alikeness and differences, their comfort with other children, their position in the family, and the advantages and disadvantages of twinship.  They will also answer the questions: 1. How is it different to be the first born or the second born? 2. How do you see yourselves as different from each other? 3. How do your parents see you as different from each other? 4. How did you relate to each other in School? 5. What did you share?  Friends?  Belongings? 6. Did you have some secrets from each other and from the world? 7. How did your sister influence your career? 8. How did your twinship affect your view of health and wellness?
  • Dr. Mercy continues her talks on spiritual growth with a review of the seven stages of power and healing, based
  • In this program, Dr. Mercy discusses the tragic case of the Silent Twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons born on April 11, 1963 at a Royal Air Force Hospital in Aden, England to black parents from Barbados. The identical twin girls kept silent throughout their childhood speaking only to each other in their bedroom where they created elaborate doll fantasies, wrote books and poems, and kept profuse diaries.  They were destined to be confined to a maximum security psychiatric hospital for eleven years of their adult lives following an adolescent crime spree. For most of this time the twins were kept in separate quarters.  Released together in 1993, Jennifer died within hours of a mysterious cardiac condition and June returned to live with her family.  June now speaks.
     
  • Karey Baker is the mother of two 6-year-old twin boys who were diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.

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