Imaginary friend.

Is it normal to have an imaginary friend?

Having an imaginary friend, sometimes called an imaginary companion, is considered a normal and even healthy part of childhood play. Research on imaginary friends has been ongoing for decades, with doctors and parents alike wondering whether it's healthy or “normal.”

What mental illness has imaginary friends?

While schizophrenia symptoms and imaginary friends are often different and separate, there are other mental and physical conditions that may have a link. Research for instance, found that children who go on to develop dissociative disorders had a much higher likelihood of having an imaginary friend.

Are imaginary friends a result of trauma?

Often times, children create imaginary friends cope with traumatic events. If these children are in a household that's full of abuse – be it physical or emotional – imaginary friends are a coping mechanism that allows them to feel wanted and safer.

When should I be concerned about imaginary friends?

Extreme anxiety when around other children. Repeatedly telling their imaginary friend about traumatic experiences in detail. Constant hurtful or unacceptable actions they blame on their make-believe companion or their influence. Fear of their imaginary friend.

Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions where a person experiences a disconnect from reality. Other research has suggested that adults with Down syndrome have a higher rate of imaginary companions and are more likely to keep these friends into adulthood.

Are imaginary friends sometimes familiar spirits?

In the bible is says to test the spirits to see if they are of God, but any spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ comes in the flesh is a bad spirit, but if a spirit does say that Jesus has come in the flesh than that spirit is from God.

First of all, you have to determine if you believe ghosts are real and not delusions. If you are OK with that, then that opens you to the possibility that what an “imaginary” friend is, may actually be a non-physical being.

Of course, imaginary friends can also be just that, a figment of the imagination given a level of reality.

Enough people have reported experiencing the presence of loved ones and others appearing to them after they have died, that the experience has to be regarded as plausible. Some people also say they maintain a relationship with beloved pets who are no longer alive.

It is quite possible that imaginary childhood friends could be ghosts.

Absolutely! I believe that most of them are. Children aren’t conditioned by society, which is one of the reasons they are much more affected by the paranormal, and they don’t necessarily have the language skills to tell a parent something other than “friend”. The parents usually add the “imaginary” in front, since they don’t see anything.

Maybe.

There are many stories of children who have ghosts as their invisible (to us) friend. I’ve experienced ghosts, but not as a child.

There is more to our world than we have proved scientifically, and the paranormal is one area that few scientists consider a worthwhile area of study. Technical equipment that proves the existance of ghosts hasn’t been invented.

I believe that some children have ghosts as invisible friends.

Definitely. I think that’s what a majority of them are. Children start to lose their abilities when more rational human logic thinking comes in when they start to get older and that’s when they lose the so-called imaginary friends. Look at animals see all sorts of things we don’t see.

Sometimes an imaginary friend is just an imaginary friend. But there is evidence that an imaginary friend can sometimes be an out-of-the-body friend, an invisible helper, or what people commonly and somewhat vaguely term a “ghost.”

(But hollywood and literature have really mangled, confused, and warped the associations of this word in the public mind, or rather the public emotions, grounded as they are in fear.)

Angels are ever present. But, so are demons. There is constantly “spiritual warfare”, per se, going on between the two. The Bible says that his angels will always surround those who love him. As long as you trust in the Lord as your savior, you will be safe from demons. There will always be struggles and hardships, but God will always take care of you no matter what.

Peace,