Table of contents:
- What is an alter ego?
- How is an alter ego different from a "multiple personality"?
- Is it normal to have an alter ego?
Have you ever heard of the name Sasha Fierce? What about the name Yonce? Both Sasha Fierce and Yonce, both became known to the world when a few years ago the legendary singer Beyonce, "introduced" them to the public. Yes, as Beyonce revealed to the media, Sasha Fierce and Yonce are the identities of their alter egos. What is an alter ego? Is it normal to have an alter ego? Check out the following explanation.
What is an alter ego?
Alter ego is a condition in which a person consciously forms another character in himself. This other character is often an idealized image of himself, one that he cannot realize and is only able to crave. Others also say having an alter ego is their way of hiding the side of themselves that they want to hide from others.
How is an alter ego different from a "multiple personality"?
You may be asking, is there a difference between people who have an alter ego and multiple personalities?
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder or by ordinary people called multiple personalities, is a disorder in which a person has more than one identity in one body. A person with multiple identities is more likely to call himself "us".
In most cases, the character possessed by a person with DID is more than two people, and these other characters or identities (alternative identities) are separate from one another. When one alternative identity is taking hold of your body, it is this alternative identity that will take control of your entire body for some time to come. So that the changes that will occur are total. The accent of speech, memory, name, age, even gender of this personality will be completely different. In fact, when the identity returns to the main (original) identity, you will not be able to remember what happened to you when another personality was taking over.
In other words, the unconsciousness that you experience when your body's identity changes, will also be followed by all changes within you, as previously mentioned. Even if you have more than two personalities within you, each of them will still function separately.
It's different with the alter ego. Change of identity in people who have an alter ego is done consciously and still within the authority of the original identity. In other words, there is no recollection of the character change process in people with alter egos. In addition, the original identity also still has full authority in exchanging identities as well as in complete awareness. When you feel in your condition that you need this alternate identity to emerge, you can trigger and change it yourself.
Is it normal to have an alter ego?
In fact, everyone has the potential to have an alter ego. But in some conditions, you may not realize you have it, because the understanding of the alter ego is still different from one another, such as:
Person A. A person who has an alter ego in the form of a voice in his head that he often talks with when he is faced with a decision that is difficult for him to make on his own.
Person B, who uses his alter ego for a specific purpose, is like Beyonce who brought out Sasha Fierce only when she needed to bring out the brave character in herself. Meanwhile, he felt that the original character in him was a shy character.
Person C, who brings out his alter ego only at times when he is lonely and needs someone to talk to.
It's just that you need to know that, in some cases, having an alter ego can end up endangering yourself and maybe the people around you. It is okay to have an alter ego, as long as the alter ego that you create is still under control.
