headmate

English

Etymology

head +‎ -mate. See head (“mind, thoughts”).

Noun

headmate (plural headmates)

1. An imaginary friend.
2. An alternate personality in someone with dissociative identity disorder or another form of psychological multiplicity.
   • 2018, "The Entropy System", Toi Magazine, December 2018/January 2019, page 56:

     The first one of the headmates (our word for alter) I was aware of was a boy named Josh.

   • 2020, Tynan Drake, "Intersectional Representation: LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse voices in transmedia fiction", paper submitted to Ball State University, page 36:

     With co-fronting, typically only one headmate at a time functions as the ‘main fronter’ who does the majority of physical driving of the body, […]

   • 2021, Zarah Eve, Sarah Parry, “Exploring the experiences of young people with multiplicity”, in Youth and Policy:

     Each headmate has their own experiences, memories, emotions and requirements, thus should be spoken to and referred to in their own preferred way.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:headmate.

   Synonym: alter

Usage notes

• Not a medical term.

Anagrams

• meathead