Talking to Yourself

I was just reading an essay in today’s newspaper, which quotes this humorous saying: “My mum always used to say the good thing about talking to yourself is you always get the answers you want.”

However, persons with multiple personality may not always get the answers they want. An alternate personality might give them an argument. They often do not realize that they have multiple personality, but only know that they sometimes have serious arguments with themselves.

Fortunately, most people with multiple personality have the normal version, which I call “multiple personality trait.” That is, they have real multiple personality, but without its causing them significant distress or dysfunction. Thus they are mentally well and do not have a mental illness.

Indeed, some people find that the trait is a major asset; for example, in writing fiction. Most fiction requires conflict, which makes arguments between personalities—in fiction, called “characters”—a good thing.