The Imaginary Companion, Playmate, Alter Ego: Multiple Personality is Common and Normal

Most psychiatrists are not interested in imaginary companions, because imaginary companions are normal.

Why are they considered normal?

Because they commonly occur in children who are not mentally ill; that is, in children who do not have a mental condition causing them distress or dysfunction, and who are no more likely than children who do not have imaginary companions to become mentally ill.

Imaginary companions are not, in any fundamental way, different from multiple personality. They are essentially the same.

Two superficial differences between imaginary companions and multiple personality are amnesia and switching. In multiple personality, one personality may have amnesia, a memory gap, for the time that another personality is out. Also, in multiple personality, the person switches from one personality to another.

In regard to the latter, switching happens in children, too; for example, when they become a super hero or a princess for extended periods of time. In this case, it might be more descriptive to call it an alter ego rather than a companion.

As to amnesia, we know that many older children and adults forget (have amnesia for the fact) that they used to have imaginary companions, and we know that they had them only by asking their parents. Whether there are memory gaps during the time that the child has the imaginary companions, I’m not sure children have been carefully asked.

In any case, it is possible that memory gaps only represent a conflict between personalities, and that it is only the degree of such conflicts that distinguishes normal multiple personality from multiple personality disorder. So my guess is that amnesia is present when a child has imaginary companions (normal multiple personality), but that it is more subtle than in multiple personality disorder.

The myth that multiple personality is rare or weird is based on a lack of appreciation for the fact that it is common and normal in childhood. Psychiatrists tend to ignore imaginary companions, because imaginary companions are normal. Psychologists who are experts regarding imaginary companions may be less knowledgeable about multiple personality, and so hesitate to make the connection. And parents just want to be reassured that imaginary companions are nothing to worry about.

I recommend Marjorie Taylor’s Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them (New York, Oxford University Press, 1999). It’s an eye-opening discussion of what’s normal.