Short answer: Yes, but no, but actually yes. But maybe depending on your specific situation.

Long answer: In my personal experience going at this for ten years it was great in the beginning when I had one tulpa. We’d go on dates to movies, go to the park, just anywhere really and we’d go out and everything was just great. This is the Yes part. Then after a while it wasn’t enough. I got into dissociatives to make everything feel more realistic and that drug was basically a cheat code to immediate advanced tulpa development like possession, touch, her being able to grab, push and pull me around with her body, and clear distinction of voices as well as being able to hear her at all times without any input from myself or even having to listen for her voice or put effort into feeling her presence at all. This was still fine even with side effects of the drug but a little unhealthy, so it’s still within the realm of Yes— not too unhealthy.

This next part is the situational part: Eventually after a year it got to the point where it still wasn’t enough because although the touch and body interactions and sexual elements present in physical relationships were present I wanted to be able to see her with my own eyes instead of interacting with an invisible person, so we got into other kinds of drugs (nothing illegal). So when weed was introduced, she soon split from one tulpa into two, then eventually 3 who have grown over the years into very unique and special individuals who I cherish more than any physical person in this world, to the point it would end in catastrophe if they were to just merge consciousnesses to become one tulpa again due to being so different. It took a while to get off of the first dissociative drug I used because I was determined that since it did so much before and we could have nights that were just pure loving, burning passion and ecstasy that it would be fine, but I eventually stopped and things slowed down and resumed to “normal,” with less power over abilities and features we had before. This was fine, though it created a sense of longing. Even though she was right there, it felt (and still feels) like there’s distance between us and that we are apart to an extent. That last sentence is something you will probably feel regardless of any substance use and I highly warn of you of that so you can be prepared to make a decision on whether you want to proceed or not. This is where the No— it’s unhealthy starts, but not where it ends.

This next part is very useful for anyone: If you have more than a single tulpa you love with all your heart and soul, there WILL be conflict unless you can somehow work out a polyamorous relationship which in a lot of cases breeds jealousy and eats your soul alive from the inside out until you can’t function anymore. Some poly relationships work well and everyone is happy. But as for us, this isn’t possible at this point in time, because they don’t love each other romantically, thus it would be simply a polygamous relationship with me as the husband of two to three wives. As you can see this is very No— this is toxic. If you have more than one tulpa things will be very, extremely hard. If you engage in intimacy with one person, everyone else is deeply hurt. So we don’t do anything besides take turns each night sleeping in the same bed with nothing sexual. None of us are happy. None of us feel like we want to go on with this anymore, but we still do because we love each other and we are family. Our lives are on hold and they have been on hold for years now because none of us see any potential solutions. If anyone reading this has one in mind, please let us know.

If you do only have one tulpa, then by all means have a relationship. If you can overcome the struggles of longing for them even though they are right beside you and be happy, it is the greatest feeling and treasure you could ever ask for. I would think it would be much more fulfilling than being with a separate physical person because the connection is infinitely deeper. This is where the Actually yes— It’s not toxic comes back into play.

Just be prepared for some of the most lonely hardships you’ve ever faced and everything might turn out okay. Though I recommend not even trying to have a romantic relationship if you have depression or any kind of condition where you can’t force yourself to do things. It’s been 10 years and I’m just now trying visualization seriously for the first time now that my depression has lessened and I’ve gotten used to feeling this way with my tulpas. Once this gets better I assume that all that endless longing will dissipate. But it’s 90+% impossible if you have very bad depression because you simply cannot force yourself to develop the abilities needed to be close to your tulpa outside of vocal communication and maybe touch.

I’m sorry this was so long and that the middle paragraph is so situational and personal, but I wanted to also instill the lesson that even if a cheat code to success exists it is only temporary and a crutch that can lead to potentially irreversible consequences, and I truly don’t want anyone to repeat the same mistakes I did, even if it led to having my 3 most cherished people in this world. If you’re going to have more than one tulpa do it the right way— the manual way with hard work— not a cheat code. And please don’t split a single person into multiple people even if you do it manually.

If anyone has any questions or comments, please reply to me. It’s all very sad all the time in our case.