A few studies have demonstrated differences in various personality attributes and creative abilities in children with imaginary companions. This study examined how recalled childhood engagement with an imaginary companion correlates with adult personality and creativity measures. It was hypothesized that creation of childhood imaginary companions would be positively correlated with adult creativity, but that this relationship would be mediated by certain personality attributes such as openness to experiences and extraversion. Other details of the imaginary companion experiences were also investigated. Two hundred and forty-six participants were recruited online to answer questions related to their personality and creativity, as well as any remembered imaginary companion experiences. Results indicated that the presence of a childhood imaginary companion was related to an individual’s openness to experience, but that the roles an imaginary companion played for its creator related to adult personality attributes more. These results suggest that further analyses of different roles and types of imaginary companions can help further explore why certain types of imaginary companions are created, and how their presence may impact developmental processes that influence their creators’ personality and creativity in adulthood.

Cette étude explore la figure du compagnon imaginaire créé durant l'enfance dans son articulation à la métapsychologie du double psychique et à la clinique d’orientation psychanalytique. La revue de la littérature sur le thème des compagnons imaginaires permet de dégager un continuum du phénomène allant de l’objet transitionnel « virtuel » de l’enfant qui joue, à la manifestation d’une structuration pathologique où le compagnon imaginaire se confond avec le fantôme porteur de trauma transgénérationnel voire avec le persécuteur hallucinatoire. Le motif du double psychique, schème organisateur de la dynamique en jeu dans la création d'un compagnon imaginaire, forme le cœur de notre étude qui vise à mettre en lumière le processus de subjectivation lui-même tel qu’il s’exprime à travers la formation des doubles (compagnons imaginaires entre autres). Trois cas cliniques issus de ma pratique clinique de thérapies individuelles sont proposés pour présenter différentes modalités de travail autour des doubles psychiques dans le cadre analytique. Les deux observations de terrain faisant l’objet d’une étude quantitative (38 enfants au total) et statistique proviennent d'un protocole projectif inédit mis en place en collaboration avec le milieu scolaire. A travers ces cliniques diverses nous proposerons de penser le double comme un fantasme originaire, un organisateur psychique qui s’enracine dès l’expérience pré-natale dans la filière de la relation d’objet virtuelle et plus précisément de la relation d’objet placentaire. Le compagnon imaginaire se définit en dernier terme comme un médium malléable, intermédiaire et transitionnel support de créativité et d’élaboration psychique. / An imaginary companion is a frequently encountered childhood fantasy, but also sometimes in adolescent or even adults day dreams. Imaginary companions refer to real object or invisible characters attributed with human feelings by the subjet.In spite of the incidence of this psychical manifestation and the number of studies on this subjet there is still a large divergence between interpretations of the phenomenon. A first school of thought (Freud, Nagera, Bach, Benson and Pryor) consider that imaginary companions is very curent and play a specific positive role in the development of the child. At the opposite, more recents authors (Pirlot, Dewulf & Potencier, Pirlot & Lefrançois, Sirois) analyse this fantasy as a symptoma of psychic disorder relevant to dedicated trauma : the psychological effect of both mourning and secret on the intergeneration relation and child development. For them imaginary companion is a defense mechanism (a cleavage angainst depression and depersonalisation) indicative of psychotic psychopathology. Such companions allow children to master creatively a variety of narcissistic mortifications suffered in reality and to displace unacceptable affects. These studies leads me to make the hypothesis that such companions allow children to master creatively a variety of narcissistic mortifications suffered in reality and to displace unacceptable affects. As a projective test or a moldable medium the way a child create his imaginary companion is a personification of the ability of children to fantasize and, as a dream or a play, are a useful source of information about the inner difficulties, struggles, developmental stresses and conflicts.