BJDs as therapy...

forgot to add:
tatsukitty & lilylilyrose - I have been struggling with self injury too for quite some time and was actually debating whether I should make scars on Szepassony's skin (she is the doll that I based the most on myself). I decided not to do it. I wanted her to be everything I couldn't, and that includes being scar and injury free.

 

Definetly bjds are a great way to relieve stress and such. I'm an infertile aromantic asexual, so unless a stork really does bring me a child, there is no way i can become a parent, so I used to get horribly lonely and angry all the time. Alexei has helped me a lot since I now have someone to cuddle, dote on, and care for. I know its not the same but it feels the closest to real for me.

 

I definitely think that BJDs can be very therapeutic - just in the same way as writing, art, photography and the like can be therapeutic. I've had various problems in the past with depression, self injury and the like, but I have to say that I've never been as stable and generally happy as after I got into BJDs.

 

@lollirot, tastukitty, and lilylilyrose - Self injury was one of the problems that I faced in the past also. If I had gotten my doll sooner like a couple years back, maybe I wouldn't have done it. If your dolls help you to stop with your own self injuries, then that alone is proof enough that they help with therapy. My physical scars have healed but my internal/emotional ones are still in the process and my doll is the main reason why I have stopped. Everything that I cannot be, all the fantasies that I wished for... My doll could be. I guess you could say that I began believing in hope again thanks to these lovely dears.

 

I think that aside from the bjds themselves there are so many hobbies that stem from them its a fun stress reliever. I am starting to mod one of my dolls heads and experiment with make up on them,making wigs for them ( I suck)
but either way its a pleasure to do so ...

 

Dolls in general are very theraputic, I mean look at children's teddy bears. I know my one friend hugs and cuddles her dolls when she's not well... Makes me wish I had some resin to cuddle up to ^^;; But really, dolls can be theraputic in many ways. I have heard of people with erratic violent tendancies and having the doll thats so pretty and well... expensive, so they are very gentle with them.

 

I have yet to own a BJD, but just looking at Uno's stories on Fully Articulated makes me happy, not to mention that the characters are totally eyecandy. I get daily cheer from that site.

 

Maybe this is why I was attracted to BJDs in the first place. I love to take care of pets, people, and things. But most people just end up using me and leave. Pets are lovely, but the will die someday, resulting in even more pain.

But that's not the case in BJDs.

 

My dad has cancer and it's really hard on my mom and I especially because he lashes out at us sometimes. He is on a lot of medications that make everything hard on him so he gets easily frustrated. My brother is also in Iraq serving in the army. I often get very upset about all that is going on in my family. My doll is often a way to help me escape from all the pressures that are going on. He always makes me smile and I love to make clothes for him and paint his face and all kinds of things. It helps keep me sane. He's my little angel I guess.

 

My kids help out alot, i'm not really sure what held me together all the years before i got themXD. Its truely a sad world out there. And so i have decided to focus more on things that "REALLY" give meaning to my life.

 

this is one of the reasons why I want a BJD ^_^; because I get easily stressed/depressed by many things, and I think that a bjd might make me think less on problems and cheer me up =)

 

I live alone in Japan, which is relaly hard, as I'm a huge people-person. While I've made tons of friends here, and I'm comfy, I find that having an empty appartment sucks. (I'm also not allowed to have pets.) Somehow my dolls make the apt seem less empty. Even though they're not actually living, they have that kind of a feel about them. They are characters of mine. So there's a sort of personality, a hobby, and art all in one. With them sitting next to my bed, the appartment both looks, and feels a lot more occupied, which saves a bit of my sanity every day!

 

; I haven't felt this way for years but after all this time... This is the first time that I truly feel scared. Back when it all happened at first, I had no one to hold on to for help. Now it seems like history is repeating itself but this time I have someone now, my doll.

 

Hmmm, interesting thread. Besides the stress relief my girls offer, I think Elizabeth was very helpful to me when I first got her. I had what was supposed to be a minor surgery that summer (no big deal, I've had a dozen before), but the nurse didn't write down I was allergic to iodine on the chart and my surgery went bad. I was put in the ICU for a few days and had to stay in the hospital for two weeks. The truely annoying part was I was supposed to be doing a study-abroad in Korea at the time and BOTH schools, my local university and the Korean school, were yelling at me for not "planning my medical condition sooner." So, that was going on, my doctor's were freakin' me out 'cause they kept talking about all the complications that were going on, this med couldn't be used 'cause I needed that med... it was a freakin' mess! And then, one weekend I took my friend to the Volks opening tea-party and fell in love with Elizabeth. She was something I could just DOTE over at crazy hours of the night. She resolved all the conflict I felt because I missed Korea. I don't have the medical history I see other mentioning, but the entire thing did shake me and she helped me get over all of it.

And then, yeah, there's The Big D a lot of people seem to have. I can't help but notice I was able to get off Wellbutrin around the same time I got Elizabeth either! Maybe medical insurance SHOULD look into coverin’ dolls! One doll is cheaper than years of anti-depressants!

Hey! Another one! I just joined AVEN this winter. I steped out of the A-Closet! Well, I am not infertile, but that doesn't really matter in our case, huh?

 

Oh yes, I suffer from a list of mental disorders and I'm constantly restricted by many phobias(such as Agoraphobia) so life is a bit gloomy for me sometimes. I would spend my days sleeping or drawing pictures to keep busy. Then one night online I came across dollfies in a random Google search, it was a Unoa Lusis, I was so enchanted by the doll that I spent about three months learning everything I could about her, and soon she will finally be mine.
Because of this new found interest, I'm going to be learning how to sew so I can make nice things for her that I can be proud of ^^ It gives me a reason to rise and shine every morning, to hop online and look at the auctions holding Unoas, and I'll at least be doing something productive when I sew her clothes.
I don't own a doll yet, but I can imagine they'd be very therapeutic. Just to look at their gentle features and to spoil them with attention and stuff. I'm looking forward to this!

 

Heh.. Yeah, I would say that dolls are therapeutic. Like most of you have said already, looking at them and playing with them after a hard stressful day really does cheer one up!

I used to have really low self-esteem and all as well, and did not make friends very easily. After I got into dolls though, I started being more open and would talk to people more freely. I'm really very glad that i got into this hobby. I cannot imagine what I would be like right now if i did not....

 

my dolls have given me determination. usually if i do something i dislike the out come i hardly ever go back to trying to re-do it. But because i love my dolls so much, because their worth so much and because their "personailities" are worth so much to me, i give them my all and try and try and try untill i get it right. I did it with Ringo's sueding...I'd never sell him so i HAD to be able to at least come up with something i was happy with...and I did it with Oranda. I loved her old face-up. it was traumatic to me, but i HAD to redo it when i accidentally harmed it. But i kept at it till i got what i wanted! Now i couldnt be happier.

So now this determination has rolled over into my life, i find myself bolder and quicker to act with less hesitation. And i go back to things i fail at within the first few attempts. So its good for my well being.

Not to mention they make me feel better. I've been spending my evenings with Ringo alot lately. He makes me feel better with his gentle smile. I've been having a hard time lately with work related stress and my mothers cancer...and this weekend i had a big fight with my boyfriend, so Ringo has been sitting in my lap these past few nights. I pose him to give me hugs and his resin smells sweet. He's so overly comforting...he makes my heart melt. So he is theraputic for me as well!