Imaginary Friends: Not Just Kid Stuff

By Ravyn Karasu

The idea of imaginary friends (creative companions) is pretty standard in the realm of child psychology. However, we never really see anything substantial about the notion of these companions in adolescents and adults, let alone the purpose or effects of those companions on those individuals. Adolescents and adults tend to face more negative stigmas than that of children, yet also use their companions in a way that is more complex yet similarly to developing children. According to both the literature and personal study, older individuals aren’t just developing important skills, but also maintaining creative thinking on multiple levels in regards to several areas of mental and social skills. The personal study involved employed a set of interview questions for volunteers to answer and discuss involving their current creative companions. As such, the study was to investigate if creative companions were present in teens and adults without a major negative psychosis and are they common. If so, what were the stigmas as well as the benefits? The study was favorable and in agreement with the information available in literary studies, as well as showing a set of patterns and functionality in the creators of companions. While stigmas were present, volunteers showed favorable preference to creating and maintaining companions, not to reject social interaction, but to enhance it as well as develop creative skills, self-therapy, and personal entertainment for the self and others. The results then open the door to realizing how potentially common the practice is, the positive utilization and experience of creative companions, and the unfair stigma of what these companionships have in our society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ravyn Karasu
• Release date: Jun 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533703712

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Special Thanks

I really wanted to give a lot of thanks to my professors, to my friends, my family, and to those that have volunteered their time to make this research possible.

The idea of imaginary friends (creative companions) is pretty standard in the realm of child psychology. However, we never really see anything substantial about the notion of these companions in adolescents and adults, let alone the purpose or effects of those companions on those individuals. Adolescents and adults tend to face more negative stigmas than that of children, yet also use their companions in a way that is more complex yet similarly to developing children. According to both the literature and personal study, older individuals aren’t just developing important skills, but also maintaining creative thinking on multiple levels in regards to several areas of mental and social skills. The personal study involved employed a set of interview questions for volunteers to answer and discuss involving their current creative companions. As such, the study was to investigate if creative companions were present in teens and adults without a major negative psychosis and are they common. If so, what were the stigmas as well as the benefits? The study was favorable and in agreement with the information available in literary studies, as well as showing a set of patterns and functionality in the creators of companions. While stigmas were present, volunteers showed favorable preference to creating and maintaining companions, not to reject social interaction, but to enhance it as well as develop creative skills, self-therapy, and personal entertainment for the self and others. The results then open the door to realizing how potentially common the practice is, the positive utilization and experience of creative companions, and the unfair stigma of what these companionships have in our society.

Me & My Shadows

I live in a world full of imagination. One could even say that people like me are like gods, with our ability to both create and destroy to our hearts’ content. What do I mean by that? The concept of blasphemy isn’t at work in this case. I am a writer. My specialty is fiction stories. My entire existence in the writing field depends on the ability to create, utilize, and form relationships with characters that do not exist in our reality. The thing is, I’ve done this my entire life.

As a child, I used to play a lot of pretend. I was one of those kids that had few friends, but the importance was in the quality, not the quantity. Whether or not I was in the presence of these childhood playmates didn’t matter. When we were together, we’d create stories with characters we enjoyed in our favorite movies, shows, and storybooks. Sometimes we’d make up some new ones. When I was alone, I’d create characters, again, either as a group of original characters, established fan favorites, or a mix of both to go on imaginary adventures. I didn’t have imaginary friends as in a single entity or multiple entities with a solid existence. My imaginary companions had a purpose in keeping me entertained and/or to fuel