r/systemscringe and Imaginary Friends
Two important things on this.
First, we aren't really talking about an "alter" as they're typically thought of. We're talking about a non-fronting headmate.
In DID, multiple alters regularly front, which appears to make them stronger than your average non-fronting imaginary friend. At the same time, the host lacks power over the system in DID as power distribution tends to be more equally dispursed.
In the case of an autonomous imaginary friend, you have a being that appears to have a will of its own with its own thoughts and feelings. But it's incapable of fronting since the host doesn't dissociate unintentionally the way DID systems do, nor do they learn to switch like Tulpa systems.
Second, when I refer to "permanent dormancy," I should clarify that I'm talking about dormancy that would be permanent unless the headmate is brought back. Perhaps "indefinite dormancy" would have been a better term.
Some tulpamancers call this "dissipation" and think of it as killing a tulpa. But given the number of dissipated tulpas and childhood imaginary friends who have been revived later, this is clearly not the case.
The process for "dissipating" tulpas is to shut them out for a long period of time. From r/tulpas:
I assume something similar happens with imaginary friends. After a child decides to ignore them because it's not socially acceptable to share a brain with them anymore, they stop being active. They go dormant.
This may be even easier if the imaginary friend thinks they're just imaginary, and that going away is the best thing for their "real" friend.
True. But you don't need DID to have headmates. And psychologists really aren't sure what imaginary friends are or how they work.
But one thing studies have shown is complexity in relationships with imaginary friends rivaling that of physical friends, with some even taking dominant roles over the host children or engaging in bullying behavior towards them. Children often report not having control over their imaginary friends, and even many adults will later report remembering their childhood companions acting outside of their conscious control.
There is growing evidence that so-called imaginary friends possess the autonomy, intelligence and self-awareness indicative of personhood.