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Imaginary Childhood Friends...

Did you have imaginary friend or friends growing up?

  • No. I had no imaginary friends.

    Votes: 14 66.7%
  • Yes. I had one or more.

    Votes: 7 33.3%

  • Total voters
    21

SusanLR

Curiosity's Cat
V.I.P Member
Did you have one or more?
Did they have names?
What were they like?
Human, animal, or something totally fantastic?

I did not have this capability.
It would be interesting to know a bit about how others did
and what type of friends were they. The purpose they fulfilled for you.
 
I didn't, but I tried to invent one. It never worked out, I couldn't pretend there was someone because my brain told me it wasn't real.

But I've always been terrified of ghosts and monsters.

Go figure!
 
No, I never had any imaginary friends as a child or as an adult. I can't believe in something I know isn't real.
 
I have already talked to objetct like stuff toys when i was a kid, even now my teddy bear i have said in another topic that i could talk to him (few words) even if i know that's an object.

But i dont remember having an imaginary friend , if we had one do we remember it? is it normal to have an imaginary friend or as a child and not having one considered as an autistic trait?
 
I have already talked to objetct like stuff toys when i was a kid, even now my teddy bear i have said in another topic that i could talk to him (few words) even if i know that's an object.

But i dont remember having an imaginary friend , if we had one do we remember it? is it normal to have an imaginary friend or as a child and not having one considered as an autistic trait?
Most people I know, NT or ND, didn't have an imaginary friend. Its common, but not specific to either NT or ND
 
No, I didn't. Although there was a time early on, where I thought cartoon characters on television were with me. Lived in a cartoon fantasy world for several years, when I was outside exploring the fields and forests near my home.
They were there with me but you couldn't see them, and I was like them. Things would happen as if I was in cartoons, rocks would roll away and never hit me. If I fell from a tree, I would bounce and not be injured. I was impervious to harm. Much like magical cartoon characters.
I didn't consider them friends, protectors perhaps.
 
No, I didn't. Although there was a time early on, where I thought cartoon characters on television were with me. Lived in a cartoon fantasy world for several years, when I was outside exploring the fields and forests near my home.
They were there with me but you couldn't see them, and I was like them. Things would happen as if I was in cartoons, rocks would roll away and never hit me. If I fell from a tree, I would bounce and not be injured. I was impervious to harm. Much like magical cartoon characters.
I didn't consider them friends, protectors perhaps.

Was one of them goofy?
 
is it normal to have an imaginary friend or as a child and not having one considered as an autistic trait?
There was a post on this site that caused this post to be created:
New research shows that children with autism are able to create imaginary friends

I went and found the original study, and it's open access so anyone can read it. Here it is:
Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Relevant quote from the results section:
Chi square analyses were used to investigate whether children diagnosed with ASD were as likely as their TD counterparts to create ICs. IC creation was significantly less common in the ASD sample, χ2(1) = 21.37, p < .001, V = .32. When only looking at the differences between iIC and PO creation, children in the ASD sample were less likely than the TD children to create iICs η2(1) = 5.40, p = .020, V = .29.
TD = Typically Developing, IC = Imaginary Companion, iIC = completely invisible Imaginary Companion, PO = Personified Object. Chi square analysis is a statistical method, and the other characters with numbers are outputs of the stats tests written in standard format.

In plainer (I hope) English, what it is saying is that, in their sample:
  • significantly fewer ASD children had imaginary friends compared to TD (or "NT") children
  • the children with ASD which had imaginary friends were less likely to have invisible imaginary friends
To answer your question: both children with ASD and without ASD can have or lack imaginary friends. However, children with ASD are far less likely to have imaginary friends.
 
Thank you @55853
Those are the articles that prompted me to make the poll.
To see how the stats copared with the forum.

I never thought of an imaginary friend for the reason that
I could not pretend something was with me that wasn't.
I would think stuffed toys and dolls could be called imaginary if your imagination were strong enough to name them, talk with them, and think of them as something with a liveness to the point they seemed real in your mind.
Most children I've seen do this.
Although I did not.
 
I've just found this as I was told I should have had them. I never did but then I couldn't really discern what an imaginary friend was exactly. I had a teddy bear I clung to like glue up until 16+ (I still have him) but he was an emotional comfort, we never 'talked'.

My sister had a Cindy doll & would play for hours with these imaginary scenarios. I never could do that. It sort of creeped me out too (I had also watched The Exorcist at a young age & probably would totally freak if I heard anything inert or invisible talk to me - get away Demon!).

But I did have/make friends with critters & wild animals. I would feed & talk to them & even need interaction with them - which is kind of imaginary friends/false bonding but they were at least real. They never talked back either, not in human speech anyway.

This post has cleared that up for me now. Thanks to all posters for the input.
 
Most people I know, NT or ND, didn't have an imaginary friend. Its common, but not specific to either NT or ND

I was specifically asked when I was diagnosed if I had an imaginary friend as a child. It’s actually a question about imagination. Many autistic people live in our own little worlds and have abnormally enormous imaginations and rich fantasy lives. It’s very common with us.

I didn’t have an imaginary friend, but I read constantly and pretty much lived in my imagination. The characters in the books I read were my friends. I’d fantasize about them constantly (e.g. go on adventures with them, insert myself into the stories, etc.). So in that way I did (do) have imaginary friends.
 
I did, still do, though how I've understood what's going on in my mind has changed drastically over the years. (This actually got me diagnosed as delusional when I was in my early 20s.) Basically, I'm a strong visual-spacial thinker and I'm working out scenarios and conversations in my head by imagining interactions with others. My strong visual skills/abilities makes it more "external" than "in my head" if that makes sense.

I don't believe that my "imaginary friends" are real. Its basically like Rubber Duck Debugging but without the duck.

It took me a really long time to be able to a) understand this and b) articulate it in a way that didn't make me seem to be completely off my rocker.
 
I’d fantasize about them constantly (e.g. go on adventures with them, insert myself into the stories, etc.). So in that way I did (do) have imaginary friends.

Oh yes, I have done this as soon as I could read!! I've tried to explain to people that I don't read a book, I LIVE it. I am there totally & disconnected from the here & now. "Yes, sorry I never turned up for coffee at Costa but I was busy battling in 1666" excuses.

Open-world games do the same to me, I am totally immersed in that world in preference to the real too (no multiplayer ones for me though). I would never have thought of that as 'imaginary friends' but yes, it's an alternative universe for me & one I can deal with easier as, well, rpg characters have code, not feelings! I do get very attached to some though. Eg. Lily in FALLOUT: New Vegas was a favourite because she was always looking out for 'her little pumpkin' aka me. Lmao. I cried at the end of RRD too & was really mad when they turned John into a zombie & forced me to play it (for the achievements..I never did do the MP aspects though).

Thinking back, as a young child, yes. I actually was Mowgli in Jungle Book, a Waterbaby, a Brumble etc. Even at 8, I was obsessed with the fables that used to be in the backs of Encyclopedia Brittanica. Magic, fairy tales, folklore, Scifi, Tolkien, GOT etc. I still am.

Never would have thought that as imaginary friends but now, as you've explained it, I can see it now. I miss the obvious all the time.
 
I know what you mean about being in the story. I always enjoyed doing the same thing.
Completely emersed in a fantasy or sci-fi book, I lived it in my imagination and created every detail,
scenes, colours, the characters. It was like being there.
I didn't consider them imaginary friends either, but, it was like being in an imaginary world and it
was a lot of fun.
 
"Yes, sorry I never turned up for coffee at Costa but I was busy battling in 1666" excuses.

Ha! That's hilarious! I'm the same way. People may not understand that you "live" the stories you read and the games you play, because it's not something adults are "supposed to" do. Only kids. And I don't think it's obvious that characters in books count as imaginary friends! When I was asked about it as part of my diagnosis, I was confused by the question, and it was only later, after reading up on it further, that I understood the question is actually about imagination in general, not specifically about imaginary friends, which are very "outward," whereas I've always been "inward" and introverted (as many autistic people are), so my imaginary friends have always existed chiefly within my own mind and on the pages of the books I love. I fantasize about them while not reading also and make up little stories (I "play" with them in my imagination, I guess you could say). When I was a kid there was some "external" play as well, but it mostly all happened in my head.
 
I went on an overnight school trip at approx' 7 - 8yrs old,
An imaginary pet monkey on a lead came with me during an afternoon excursion :)

Never seen before or since.

A teacher was interested in my imaginary pet. Asked lots of questions.
I got rid of the monkey. Attracting too much attention :/
 
My daughter had a super cute imaginary friend (She has autistic qualities) who went a couple places and flew on a 5 hour plane trip. We addressed this friend at meal time, eventually this lovely friend left us. She also made up super- kitty, in second grade who wore a super hero cape. She wrote a long story and sculpted kitty out of clay.
 

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