imaginary friends/internal companions etc. weird or what?

[musicalman]

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I've had imaginary friends ever since I was a kid. They haven't constantly been the same, but I've always had at least a few growing up, and I still have a few today, again different from what they were before. I don't feel too comfortable sharing details at present, but maybe that will change at some point. What I'll say is that they help me deal with processing certain thought patterns, or just having some company when I feel lonely, don't feel like socializing, or can't find company I want to socialize with. I've met several aspie friends of mine who share this. Sometimes their imaginary friends are people, other times they are animals who might even have a physical form of a stuffed animal or something similar. I saw examples of this on a Youtube video once, but don't know if I can find it again. There are one or two friends who I roleplay with as our imaginary friends.

So what do you guys think of this? Anything you wanna share?

 

[Streetwise]

never had one- think i was traumatised too early, a child psychologist said i separated my intellect from my emotions at age 18m-2 years
remember reading about it in a book called the little white horse it sounded slightly mad
suppose thats my emotions been disconnected

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I've had imaginary friends ever since I was a kid. They haven't constantly been the same, but I've always had at least a few growing up, and I still have a few today, again different from what they were before. I don't feel too comfortable sharing details at present, but maybe that will change at some point. What I'll say is that they help me deal with processing certain thought patterns, or just having some company when I feel lonely, don't feel like socializing, or can't find company I want to socialize with. I've met several aspie friends of mine who share this. Sometimes their imaginary friends are people, other times they are animals who might even have a physical form of a stuffed animal or something similar. I saw examples of this on a Youtube video once, but don't know if I can find it again. There are one or two friends who I roleplay with as our imaginary friends.

So what do you guys think of this? Anything you wanna share?

 

[Gracey]

I have to hold my hand up to this
It wasn't a human though, it was a little, imaginary trained monkey on a lead/leash that was quite obedient but amusing.
It was during an educational junior school trip (8 ot 9 yrs old?) We were away for four nights. As much as I loved learning about the area and the history and searching for fossils on the beach, (found lots of ammonites) I didn't have my home comforts/routine.
Just my monkey.

He didn't come home with me either. He didn't exist when I got home.

 

[Momo]

I have an imaginary friend, and have had her since childhood. I don't think it's that weird, then again I am pretty bonkers! I think I made her up because sometimes when you just want someone to talk to or understand, well, real people just won't do (not that I had any friends in the first place). Lam San-Mung is pretty wicked at times now I think about it... I wonder if that's my manifestation of my evil side, I wouldn't be surprised...

 

[AGXStarseed]

I've had a few imaginary friends during my childhood and into my teens/early adult years - mainly to help me to cope with certain issues.

 

[Chance]

I didn't really have imaginary friends... I had imaginary places... Any place other than where I was. I got so good at imagining this that I would zone out and people would scream at me, or hit me to get my attention.
That was the very reason I had imaginary places... : )

 

[Coupe]

I've always had imaginary friends. I think my earliest one was Dumbo, from the Disney movie - he was one of my favorite Disney characters, aside from the Winnie the Pooh folks. Whenever my mom would make bran muffins, I would ask her for a handful of bran flakes (which I mistook for "peanuts" for some reason ), set them on a small plate or paper towel on the kitchen table and leave them there for "Dumbo." An hour (or several) later (I would almost always get tired of waiting around for Dumbo to arrive to claim his peanuts and go off to play or watch TV or something) I would walk by the kitchen table and find the bran flakes gone. I was maybe 3 or 4 years old then. As an adult, I realize that it was probably the case that my mom decided I'd played my little game long enough and disposed of my offering, or my dad (who was more indulgent of my fantasy play than she) took them himself, but as a little kid, seeing that the bran flakes were gone was magical.

As I got older, my stuffed animals were my imaginary friends, and in a way, that's still the case now that I'm an adult. They just make me happy and offer me the kind of safety and security that my other NT family members and peers get from other human beings that I've never really felt. My stuffed animals (or "plushies" as I usually call them) are always there for me, never too busy, never impatient, distant or emotionally abusive, and they always know exactly what I think or how I feel without my having to explain it over and over.

...And yes, one of my favorite cartoons is "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." I really liked Wilt. I also have a t-shirt with all the characters on it, and I've gotten quite a few compliments on it when I've worn it in public.

 

[Butterfly88]

I had two imaginary friends as a child but then they went away. But when I was 16 something strange started happening. These people come to me and talk to me in my mind. I can't see them but I know exactly what they look like. Some of them I like, some of them I don't. It was determined I'm not psychotic but my psychiatrist is unsure if these are imaginary friends, a symptom of a mental illness (she thinks perhaps an intrusive thought since I have OCD), or both. Lately I've been having tea with Hillary Clinton fairly regularly for example. But there have been times she's kicked me as well and I just wanted her gone.

 

[Idahocalypse]

I've had imaginary friends my entire life, including a few at present. I'd prefer not to reveal the identities of my imaginary friends. But I will say that I love them and look up to them like older brother figures, which has been very helpful for coping with the strong sense of separation anxiety I experienced when my real-life brother went to college, dated a girl for a year and then became engaged to her.