Thread: Is there any harm in inventing an imaginary friend?

Last night I couldn't sleep as I was upset about a few things, so my mind started to wander. I can't remember how I came across the idea but I ended up making a concious decision to invent an imaginary friend and trial it out.


-----potential harm?-----

It turns out to be quite a comforting thing as this person is really just everything I want them to be. I am quite happy to continue pretending "Fred" is real but I just wanted to find out first if I could actually cause myself real mental issues by doing this and going too far with it.

-------creation of Fred-------

Already I have found Fred to be surprisingly realistic considering my sanity. When I started creating Fred, I started with the name, I went through several names in my head trying to come up with a name that didn't instantly make my mind picture another persons face. I've never known anyone called Fred so Fred worked. After finding the name, I then had to decide what Fred looked like. I simply asked Fred trait by trait what he wanted to look like and he gave me the answers. Fred is a whimsicle being and most of the time gives the first responce that comes to my mind unless he dislikes the result. so I started with hair colour, first Fred said blonde, but he didn't like it, and after a few of these corrections, he came up with white, so Fred has white long hair next was skin colour, after concidering all the different skin colours Fred decided white would be the easiest to relate to for familiarity. Somewhere around this point fred inadvertantly adopted an australian accent which just seemed to happen by no concious decision. Then I asked what gender fred wanted to be and he decided to be a bit of both, Fred has a male voice and a male persona but has a female physique and appearance. I decided at this point that Fred had enough detail and any more would just be hard to immagine.


-------nature of Fred------


I was surprised to find that Fred was partial to insult and would turn his back to me and not respond to my call if I was mean to him. Fred almost has a mind of his own and his decisions are not entirely my own. I asked Fred what he was afraid of and even as I was asking the question, an image of a snake appeared in my mind (which I am not in the slightest bit afraid of as a point of interest) so I immagined a snake coiled around Fred and he was HORRIFIED. Shortly after this Fred retaliated by forcing a very real image of a wasp into my mind (which I am petrified of) and sure enough I got one hell of a fright, a full nervous system fright full of adrenaline, which really surprised me. Any time I annoy Fred he flies a wasp at me and scares me so much that I jolt. Fred is very whimsicle and any answer to a question or opinion he expresses is the first thought into his mind but he will change this as many times as necissary if he doesn't agree with the opinion he just expressed.


I've run out of time to type right now but I may post more apon prompt.

By the way, so as not to lose sight of the point of this thread, I was wanting to know if this could be harmful to my mental health.

It almost seems as if you are giving yourself Dissociative Identity Disorder on purpose.

It's an odd idea. It would be better IMO to try to connect with people not in your head.

I suspect you may end up seeing Fred if you keep on. Are you ok with this?

I agree it is a strange idea, but it't nice to ask for freds help in stressful situations.

edit: didn't answer your question. To be honest I don't think I'd have any problem with seeing Fred visually, but I highly doubt this will happen.

Hmm...Well, considering you're already contemplating offing yourself, creative solutions are certainly called for. If reality starts feeling like a bad movie to you?

Then you've become derealized and it has been determined to be a bad idea.

I just hate that feeling...especially the dolly zoom thing. Someone pulled a gun on me when I was 4, dolly zoom effect on the revolver's snout...interesting in retrospect.

After reading your suicide thread, and now this, I have to say that (in the nicest way possible) I suggest you seek help. Your attitude to life is not normal, and while there is nothing wrong with that, you are counteracting certain human instincts that people in a normal state of mind would not do.
I don't like recommending therapy because for most people it is a never-ending thing. But talking about your problems can help a lot. If you want, PM me. Tell me about your pain in the ass dad and your annoying mother. I can relate a lot and if I can I'll share my experiences with you and how I deal with them. Or even we can talk about it in this thread. No one knows who you are on here, so telling many people, all of whom have different experiences and understanding of the world around them may prove to be very helpful too.

Isolating yourself from the world is a dangerous path to take.