BJDs as therapy...

I'm so glad that so many people with real troubles, "big" or "small", are finding therapy through their dollies. Anything that gives you pain is a real problem, and finding that a doll helps make it a little bit better is such a wonderful thing.

I've posted here before how my dolls and the hobby itself have been helping me through serious Chronic Depression and the heartaches that sometimes come through life with Asperger's Syndrome, a type of Autism. Lately I've found a new form of therapy from them- "company" of a sort, and a reassurance from a familiar and positive source.
I've been dealing with a certain person pursuing me on and off for a few years now, and this last month or two he decided to renew his attempts, contacting my family, insisting he needs to "help" us/me, Edit: Anyway, it's officially stalking, I'm officially getting a restraining order and a lot of support from my parents and church leaders, and it's going to be taken care of. In spite of that, the whole thing's been quite a strain on my nerves and sense of safety, and I've found a help in the most unlikely source- Dolls.
Having the distraction of the hobby gives me something pleasant to think about instead of spiraling into unproductive thought patterns or fears. Making things for the dolls is a therapy stronger than any medicine for calming and centering me, letting me be productive and creative and strong. Anxiety is hard to fight without something like dolls to ease it and redirect that energy in a healthy way. Even my somewhat skeptic family sees how happy the dolls make me and has come to accept their positive influence on my health as something worthwhile.

 

I know I have posted to this thread before about how my dolls help me with my social anxiety and SPD. Recently I have also found myself coping with the diagnosis process of epilepsy. I had been having absent and partial complex seizures for almost 2 years and it has turned my life upside down. Many of the things I had always taken for granted, things as simple as driving, are now not possible for me. Getting past my distrust for new people and doctors in particular was hard but it was something I had to do to be able to receive the treatment I need. I've had to accept the fact that I have an illness that will change my life and means I will spend the rest of my life on a medication with some serious side effects. Some days I was just too exhausted to do much and by mid-afternoon I found myself crashed on the couch with a doll on top of me. Other days spending time dressing my dolls or taking photos really helped relieve my stress. Dwelling on things I can't change is not helpful. Though during the early days of acclimating to my new medication I could not do anything as intensive as face ups, just handling my dolls was enough to get my mind off of my own problems for a little while. My kids were worried about what was going to happen to me so it was good for all of us to spend some time playing and they enjoy my dolls as well. Even if all we did was cuddle on the couch watching anime and holding our resin buddies for an afternoon.

 

I'm getting my first doll as a type of therapy. I have extreme OCD and im on the bipolar spectrum, the combo makes me increadibly high strung and worried. I have tried many things to calm down my conditions, but nothing has worked enough for me to be comfortable. I have always loved bjds, and I decided to finally let myself buy a bory. Even if this doesn't improve my symptoms, I think I will be a lot happier.

 

In certain ways, I agree.
I'm diagnosed psychically instable, even that much that my therapist said she's not able to help me at the moment. I won't tell you what exactly is wrong with me and why, but it keeps me from living a normal life and is not easy to get rid off.
I will be treated stationary for a few weeks in a clinic that's in another city (they call it "going on vacation"), but already made sure that I am allowed to bring my doll with me. I told my therapist about her, told her about how my doll and me relate, that in a few ways our characteristics and backstories are similar, but not so similar that I feel I have a little Liliana in front of me. This helps me and makes it easier for me to get over with the things that happened.
Another point is, that I'm not easy to sozialize with. I'm more the person that seems odd, arrogant, unsocial and a little scary at first glance. I can't remember how often people told me "You're much nicer than I thought you were."
I don't like to sozialize. People scare me. People scare me very much.
And I simply lack the skill to deal with them. I simply don't know what effect the things I do and say have on others. I accidently hurt others, get misunderstood, give the wrong impression. People drive me so nervous that I either turn to stone or get hyperactive, which doesn't help at all. One of my few friends introduced me to her group and because of how nervous I was they hated me on first glance. Sure, a doll does not help me to sozialize more, but she keeps me company.
I don't want to sound insane, I know the difference between doll and human, but, no matter what others say, I like to be alone. I am happy when I'm alone, with no other human around me. I like it, but am happy to have my silent companion by my side.

 

Definitely therapeutic for me. Back when I didn't want help, I would've just held one of my dolls and somehow feel better. I don't have any particular ailments (yet?) but I have been diagnosed with major depression, so now I'm on pills and in therapy sessions for that. I always take a doll with me when I go see my therapist..in fact she can recognize almost all of them now!

A friend called the police once because he was worried about me, and to speed up to the point, I was placed in a mental clinic where I wasn't allowed to have any electronics, no clothes with strings on it, etc...so generally I felt terrible. But everyday my parents visited during visiting hours (like what 2 hours?) and they always brought my MSD, and instantly I'd be less anxious. So..I'd say definitely my boys are therapeutic. I feel so much less alone when they're with me.

 

The dolls are my therapy. They give me nothing but joy and a sense of safety. I got Aspergers, so sometimes its hard for me, understanding a world Im too slow to catch up with. I get depressed a lot, have horrible moodswings, and Im not overall social... and numerous other health problems.
- But when I feel like I cant take it anymore, I just hold around one of the dolls, and I feel much better. I talk to them a lot too, while posing them around, taking pictures, changing clothes.. It makes me feel good, caring for someone/thing. And in return they make me feel safe. Once when I was at the hospital, waking up from day surgery, the first thing I asked for was one of the dolls that I brought along, and cuddled him until I was allowed to leave. I also bring them to my psychiatrist for extra support, and other emotional stressful events. And when I leave home for more than a day, I of course bring one with me too. I need them, or else I feel agitated, lost and alone.

 

I'm still new to all of this, but having the dolls does add a new creative outlet for me when I'm upset. I can design new outfits, arrange photo shoots that reflect how I feel... etc. As others have said, yes, yes they are.

 

I think I have to agree that ball-jointed dolls can really help in certain crucial life situations.
I have been into BJDs for several years, but my involvement into a hobby was quite passive - helping my friends to choose and buy their own dolls, I never thought I would ever have enough courage and money to buy someone as beautiful and have such a doll at home myself.
At least, not until last summer, when I suffered an unexpected and heavy loss of my sworn brother - a person very dear to me.
No one could really help me to overcome that dreadful time.. and if not for this elf-boy that I saw on the Dollzone site, I would have been in the most dreadful depression for God knows how long.
But this amazing doll of theirs reallly gave me a chance to survive.

 

Whenever I get really sad and depressed I grab my 70 CM boy, Adonis. His backstory is an Elven god who was banished from heaven for doing unspeakable acts with angels. For some reason whenever I hold onto him I feel like he takes all my sadness away and knows that he's helping me feel better. I also found that when I take my dolls out it has helped me in talking to strangers more. I used to be pretty shy around strangers but because of these dolls I can talk about them when someone asks me. I feel a sense of comfort from them and since I got my Littlefee he's gone literally everywhere he can with me in my purse. I don't care if people don't know he's there. As long as I know I have my little guy by my side I feel good going out of the house. I always feel if I'm without them people are staring at me and judging me on my looks and how heavy I am. Thinking I'm probably gross or what have you, but with one of my dolls with me, I don't care what people think.

 

While my situation is nowhere near as severe\affecting as some individuals in this thread I do feel that my doll fills an emotional nich� for me. I react in a different manner to most people when it comes to stress and grief... It's sort of a delayed onset. The latest Christchurch (New Zealand) earthquake shook up a lot of people who were already jittery from the quake last year and many people simply fell apart. I didn't. I barely reacted at all except to take shelter! Now (almost a month after the Feb quake) I think it's all catching up to me. With my last major emotional upheaval I ended up cuddling my BJD as I went to sleep at night... and it really helped. Currently my doll is several hundred kilometers away at my mums place having clothes made and I feel like there's this big empty spot in my arms where he's supposed to be right now. There are people in my life who i could turn to for real-person cuddles but I'm fairly certain that's not what I need.

 

I find that while praying helps me significantly when I'm scared or upset, there's something about physical contact with someone or something that is very calming- in my case, that something is a doll.

I have this terrible fear of thunderstorms and wind (it's pretty bad. I've had people recommend therapy after seeing me during a storm), so since having a BJD, I bring him with me when I hide from the storms. I find it helps a lot to talk to him, play with his hair, and if it's really bad, just squeeze him tight. There haven't really been storms since my second doll arrived, but I'm hoping two dolls will mean twice the comfort ^^

It's also interesting to note, as I was reading this thread, I started feeling kind of distant and anxious, so I grabbed Ichabod, rested him on my chest, and I instantly became more alert, and the anxiety greatly diminished.

 

...actually yeah. I kind of agree with pretty much everything said here, and reading this thread makes me feel just a little bit... less crazy. XDD

BJDs defiantly are a form of therapy for me. I was seeing a therapist two years ago for hyper anxiety and onset of OCD, and I used to take my dolls to sessions. When I talk about difficult things, I have to have something to do with my hands- folding tissues was my biggest thing. I get really quiet when I get nervous, and very still, and sometimes actually stopped breathing- but when I brought my dolls with me, even my therapist remarked on how they seemed to help me move more- it moved my focus to them, to play with their hands and straighten their clothes and fix flyaways while I talked. Plus, whenever I needed to distract myself from a particularly plaguing thought, I work on my dolls- I'm into extreme mods, so their time and concentration consuming, which helps me not to think about horrible natural disasters which I can't control (one of my biggest fears was fire or trees falling on the house- it's hard to not think about things you can't control, lol). Sanding, epoxy sculpting, sewing, painting- it helps reduce the stress.

I have noticed whenever I get nervous, I gravitate towards picking one of them up, too, even after I quit therapy. Whenever there's bad news to be delivered I unconsciously pick up the nearest doll, lol. I think it's kind of like the stuffie or security blanket everyone had when they were little, or even a lucky necklace or bracelet- it's an item that you've put a lot of love into, one way or another- by creating a character for them, writing their personality, customizing them- and even though their just big blocks of sculpted plastic, they still contain as much comfort and care as we give them, and they give it back when we need it.

...still sounds stupid and obsessive. XDD I can totally understand someone who doesn't feel this way though. It kinda sounds creepy when you try and explain it. Lol!

 

I suffer from depression, social anxiety, PTSD, and other minor things... It helps me to just have something to really concentrate on whenever I'm feeling down, or antisocial, or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I don't ignore my problems or let them build up, but having something that distracts me from dwelling on things I can't change, no matter how hard I try, really helps me to put it into perspective and come to terms with it.

 

Im sure dolls can be used in therapy! it helps i lonlyness for some, depression in others ^__^ its an amazing idea

 

I have early onset recurrent depression, bipolar affective disorder, borderline personality disorder, close to 10 anxiety disorders, paranoia and slight OCD - and my dolls are really helpful with that. I always took one or more of my dolls to my councillor when I saw her, and they really helped. They also helped a LOT with all the earthquakes here. My PukiFee, Hope, was ordered just after the September quake last year, (hence her name) and she was so wonderful to get when I did. We lost our house in the Sept. quake, and she gave me 'someone' to look forward to while we were in limbo in my parents spare room. She arrived the week after we got our new place, which was just so wonderful.
Because of my conditions I have lost a lot of my people friends because they couldn't handle me like I am, but it is comforting to have resin friends here for me. My tinies are generally more for distraction, and Andi (my SD girl) is more of a friend.
I also have slight delusions when it comes to inanimate objects, hence I always worry about my dolls, and how they feel. In the back of my mind I know that they aren't actually alive, but I can't stop myself thinking that they have feelings, and would be angry with me if I left them places, or don't give them all enough attention. That also really helps when I am feeling really bad - because my partner knows it is better for me to be out of bed and doing things, he will coax me out with lines like "But you promised Hope you would make her a new dress," or similar things. While I feel awful and don't want to get out of bed for anything, the idea of upsetting someone else is usually enough to get me into gear. Which is really good.

 

This is really fascinating. I know I'd thought about my doll in the back of my head as being a method of escapism/therapy, but I hadn't realized how many other people thought the same way. I guess it makes sense; playing with dolls taps into a kind of mental release that most people never get after childhood. Plus there's the therapy of making art; I know I find creating things to be hugely relaxing and therapeutic, and I'm not the only one. ^_^

Now for my story: I still consider myself fairly lucky; I don't have any problems like losing my house or seizures, but I do have medium-strength anxiety and depression. The past two years have been very difficult, as I lost several loved ones (all in separate instances), got a new job, had a dramatic lifestyle change and was swamped with family and social obligations. I won't go into all the details, but I lost weight I couldn't afford to lose, became chronically sleep-deprived, and basically worked myself into exhaustion. I decided to buy my BJD, a KDF Hodoo boy, as a present to myself, doing something completely (as I saw it) impractical, unnecessary, and self-indulgent. It was kind of a regression, and kind of reclaiming myself after suppressing what I want in favor of others for so long. Now I take Tori out every day just to hold him, and it's amazing how happy he makes me. (I talk to him too, sometimes, but I talk to everything, so that's not surprising.) He's still a guilty pleasure, and I can't quite justify my purchase to my friends; there's just something so liberating about a thing that exists only for the sake of beauty. (Is that weird? ^_^; ) But anyway, he's my precious present and escape, and even though my situation is only improving slowly, it's amazing how much spoiling him takes my mind off things.

 

I thought i was the only one...every week i bring in one of my dolls to therapy. My doctor saids it helps me be happy and stay out of troulbe. they also help me from being lonely...even if i'm surronded by people almost 24/7, that one hour i'm alone...i don't think i could make it without my doll.

 

wow. what a wonderfully sweet and informative thread. It never occurred to me to think of dolls as therapy, but lately, I've been finding myself increasingly anxious and depressed at times - high-pressure career, long distance relationship, and trying to learn new interpersonal skills to help me move to the next level in my profession. And yes, it's true that I've been looking over at Emma and she calms me a bit. Playing with her and doing Lotte's face (a floating head) are good outlets for that anxiety. I just wish I had more time in that doll-space.

 

Well, I can say dolls were a bit life saving for me too.
Three years ago I have just moved from my parent's house to live by myself, was having lots of trouble on my new job on a big company in a strange city, I was depressed, missed my old friends, my family and all the stuff I had on my old town. I used to cry almost every day.
The hobby help me face depression and I made lots of new friends throught it. Then I learned how to do doll's makeup, got more into photography and today my hobby is also a job. I am so glad I found dolls to "play" as an adult and I am so surprised to see how many people this hobby is helping. This is so amazing.