r/Tulpas

43K archived posts · May 2012 – Sep 2026

Tulpas: Intelligent companions imagined into existence

r/Tulpas

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a mental companion who can think and act on their own? That's what a tulpa is. Discuss tulpas, share your experience with having tulpas, and give advice to fellow tulpa creators here! Please read the FAQ before posting. Also, please note that we are not mental health professionals. If you are having issues with your mental health, please get professional help, do not ask us.

Created May 27, 2012

52KMembers (last snapshot)

43KArchived posts

INFO

What is a tulpa?

A tulpa is a mental companion created by focused thought and recurrent interaction, similar to an imaginary friend. However, unlike them, tulpas possess their own will, thoughts and emotions, allowing them to act independently.

So is this like schizophrenia/multiple personality disorder/dissociative identity disorder?

Not at all! Schizophrenia and DID (formerly called MPD, and still called MPD in some areas outside the US) are disorders characterized by clinically significant distress, dysfunction, or danger. Schizophrenia is a breakdown in perception of physical reality and consistency that has strong genetic influences, and does not always involve hearing voices. DID is a dissociative disorder typically caused by childhood trauma.

Neither disorder is "self-inflicted", and we recognize them as very different experiences from tulpa creation. The experience of having tulpas is much more accurately likened to the experiences of fiction writers whose characters come alive and begin talking to them; in fact, a great number of tulpa creators have formed tulpas that way!

####FAQ

###Glossary

####Guides and Resources

##RULES

Disallowed Submissions and Comments:

Memes;
Posts with vague titles and content
Creepypasta
Low-effort posts and comments
Unmarked NSFW links
Harassment
Unknown Speakers
Single-System Comment Chain
Chatroom recurrent advertisement and drama
Only post Art on Tuesdays
Only post AMAs with moderator approval
~~Anything not related to delicious tuplas~~

Here you can find our complete list of rules with examples

Remember: before posting your question, check if your question can't be answered by taking a look at our guides and FAQ, and use the search function to make sure it wasn't asked and sufficiently explained in the past!

Also, stay skeptical and take whatever you see here with a grain of salt.

Your experiences can and probably will differ from someone else's.

##COMMUNITY

Recurrent Threads

Our Continuous Programs:

Mentorship Program: a place where veterans can offer their help as mentors for newbies.
Pen-pal Program: a place where both veterans and newbies alike can connect.

Chatrooms:

####List of Chatrooms

Other Links:

Filters

Flair/Filter Guide

Other communities

Reddit Rebuilt is an independent, non-commercial archive and is not affiliated with Reddit, Inc. Content belongs to its original authors.