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Imaginary friends

1K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  petsounds 
#1 ·
Somehow I'm overly talktive tonight, so here's another thread: Does anyone have any imaginary friends or did anyone have any as a child?
I don't really have "imaginary" friends as in friends I made up myself, but I "talk" to TV characters or famous people even when I'm not looking at a picture of them or watching a show with them on it or anything. I used to do that as a child, and still sometimes do. I can almost "see" them from the corner of my eye, even though I know they're not real and I'm not hallucinating, I can "see" my daydreams when I got my eyes open as well.. ( okay, that does sound weirder than it is, trust me. ) anyways, I talk to them like I would to normal people, though I'm perfectly aware that they're not real and it helps me somehow.. but do you think that's healthy?^^
As a child I'd also have a few "real" imaginary friends and imagine that I was living somewhere else ( a boarding school being a common theme) ... probably to escape reality at home.
So, anyone else or am I just too weird?
 
#2 ·
I kind of "faked" having a few imaginary friends when I was little, just because I assumed that was what was expected of me. I didn't really believe in them, though.

I don't have imaginary friends nowadays either, but I spend a huge amount of time thinking about my fictional characters, mulling over their lives, and I'll often even be pretending I'm them while I'm walking around doing random things. When I was younger and had a friend IRL, we'd pretend to be these characters and play around together...now that I'm grown up and my friend has long since moved on, I can't do that anymore :eek:ops but I still do it in my head--which sometimes translates into writing. I do it so frequently that I even do it in my dreams sometimes. :?

Also when I was little I played with toy animals...those came closest to being my imaginary friends. I would pretend to be various characters of mine on audiocassette, and would do their voices and ad lib things. And yes, I grew very close to certain TV characters and such...I remember once I felt so bad having to miss an episode of my favorite show that I left an apology letter to the characters on my dresser! :eek:ops

For me none of this is bad, since it doesn't interfere with my daily life or socializing (since I do no socializing). So I see no harm in it; I even used to be able to use it as a coping mechanism, though I lost that ability. :sigh And like I said, some of it leads to actual writing, so it can be a creative process. I know there are some people for whom these traits are bothersome, though.
 
#3 ·
I had an imaginary friend when i was about 5 to 10 years old. It was a time when i was bullied alot and it was a terrible experience like many others have had but i guess that this imaginary friend was a way for me for getting away from the bullying i was experiencing and the pain that it was causing me to have mentally.

You are not weird but i think being weird is being an individual and being unique and if you think it is helping you then continue to do it. :)
 
#4 ·
I had imaginary friends when I was a kid, and it was as good as having real friends. But at some point, that stopped working. I still daydream a lot and imagine conversations in my head, sometimes I imagine friends that don't exist b/c I can't seem to meet people that I connect with.
 
#5 ·
The following will most likely sound completely insane but here goes...

I don't actually have an imaginary friend but I did build up a small castle in my mind. The main area is the Throne room but I occasionally visit the Garden.

I also created a number of characters to populate the castle. A lot of them are temporary characters but I do have a group of main characters. The Advisor is a good version of me and he wears a long white robe, whilst the guy who always tries to steal the castle is a bad version of me and wears a Dracula suit. The Throne Guard is a huge rhino in full plate armour and wielding a halberd. And lastly there's the Errand Boy who's a skinny little goblin.

When I'm bored it's a great place to roleplay and have a bit of fun. It's also a safe zone where I can go when I'm feeling extremely anxious. The two versions of myself are like an angel and devil providing advice when I really can't make up my mind about something.

It also gives me something to write about. I've developed a whole world with my small Kingdom in it. It's like The Lord of The Rings but nowhere near as amazing. I've never told anyone about this before....

PS I think I'm learning how to paragraph.
 
#6 ·
The following will most likely sound completely insane but here goes...

I don't actually have an imaginary friend but I did build up a small castle in my mind. The main area is the Throne room but I occasionally visit the Garden.

I also created a number of characters to populate the castle. A lot of them are temporary characters but I do have a group of main characters. The Advisor is a good version of me and he wears a long white robe, whilst the guy who always tries to steal the castle is a bad version of me and wears a Dracula suit. The Throne Guard is a huge rhino in full plate armour and wielding a halberd. And lastly there's the Errand Boy who's a skinny little goblin.

When I'm bored it's a great place to roleplay and have a bit of fun. It's also a safe zone where I can go when I'm feeling extremely anxious. The two versions of myself are like an angel and devil providing advice when I really can't make up my mind about something.

It also gives me something to write about. I've developed a whole world with my small Kingdom in it. It's like The Lord of The Rings but nowhere near as amazing. I've never told anyone about this before....

PS I think I'm learning how to paragraph.
I think that sounds pretty cool actually. I've been writing a novel for a while about a Queen and her bodyguard, which originally developed from daydreaming that I had this bodyguard to protect me from anxiety-inducing situations.
 
#8 ·
I have imaginary friends. Lots of them. My imagination has always been very active and once I started becomming more isolated, I used it to cope. This, I see nothing wrong with. I know very well that they aren't real and I don't see things or hear voices, so I don't think it's unhealthy. It's kind of like escaping into movies and books, only you're just making it up in your mind.

For me it's a coping mechanism for lonliness. Pretending not to be alone helps me. I've made up every detail of these people and know them better than I know any real ones (like characters in a book). They're living in my head so they can be there whenever, wherever I need to not feel alone. There's periods in my life where I haven't needed them, but when I get severely depressed or anxious it helps... my only concern is people finding out and thinking I'm insane. Like when I'm old, if I go senile or something and start rambling about these "people" no one's ever heard of... that could get awkward.

If it doesn't hurt yourself or anyone else, and helps you cope, I say it's okay.
 
#9 ·
I recall a quote I read once. I think John Lennon said it.

I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?
 
#12 ·
I have psychosis, which is like visual and audio hallucinations. With that, I've made up a specific person I called my best friend when I first developed S.A.D. I know she's imaginary. She's not real. But I still love talking to her. I was able to lucid dream a lot, and that's where I always talked to her - in my dreams. But then she came alive and I would visually see her as I was awake. I introduced her to my boyfriend at the time (this was years ago), and she would always tell me that he's a jerk and to get away from him. I should have listened to her...
 
#14 ·
I've never imagined the same person twice which I think would make them an imaginary friend but I imagine I'm having conversations with friends, celebrities, co-workers, future boyfriends.
I've actually been doing something new recently that started with me wondering what I looked like to other people. I'll imagine that I'm standing in front of myself or sitting next to myself and I'll just go about my day. I won't have any pretend conversations with myself. For whatever reason, it's really comforting.
 
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