Imagination? Or psychosis?

I get that they are objects, but you know sometimes its just nice to pretend... imagination vs psychosis is a really good debate though

 

It a every interesting question.
I had a friend who was so obsessed with a certain video game that I honestly couldn't tell if she was just joking about things or if she actually thought the main character was real, and her boy friend.

On the other hand I talk to my dolls, as if they listen. Not because I think they do, I'm just always chattering to object. Only these ones have faces so it seems more crazy. Lolz

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Sometimes you can't help but sense life when you stare into your doll's eyes, that doesn't mean they have a soul. I don't know what that means though...I used to believe they had souls when I was a child. I don't anymore, of course.

I think it is only considered unhealthy if your mentality and emotions were dependent on a doll as if it were a person. Especially if it has a negative effect on your daily life.

 

I've been known to talk to my dolls in frustration with them..("WHY WON'T YOUR HEAD GO BACK ON!?" "STOP KICKING ME!" "OW! YOU BIT ME!" (The last one being joint pinches...>A>) Or hold them when I cry. But I also have a vast imagination...I'm not really afraid to say I kind of let my characters lead me when it comes to drawing them or creating doll forms for them. It just feels right...But I'm a writer..My characters come to life within my imagination.

 

This is an extremely interesting topic.

I think that it's healthy for adults to play and to exercise their imaginations. I find it very sad that many adults seem to have lost the ability to imagine, create and play. To me, it's exceptionally fulfilling to play with my dolls, imagine their stories and bring their characters to life. In my imagination they are real people, as complex and three-dimensional as any living, breathing flesh-and-blood person. The world I imagine for them is equally three-dimensional. I realize this is all only my creation, but that doesn't make it any less vivid or important in my mind. In some sense, I do think of my resin crew as little people. Sometimes I will 'talk' to them or make a comment to them in much the same way I would talk to my dog. I don't expect an answer, but sometimes it's good just to have someone to share your thoughts with who is guaranteed not to offer unsolicited advice! I also like to hold and cuddle my dolls, especially Tyler. I like to think he 'understands' me. People probably think I am crazy for being so imaginative and sometimes being so caught up in my dolls' stories, but I think that as long as other aspects of my life are not affected by my behaviour with my dolls, then I'm still okay.

All that having been said, I truly know my dolls aren't alive and that they're not actual people. There's a real and tangible line between pretend and reality in my mind. I think the trick is to know when it's appropriate to play and when it isn't appropriate to play. I lead a full and busy life, and although dolls are an important part of it, they are only one part.

I think not knowing when it's an appropriate play time is when pretending starts to become worrisome. If the person can't separate imagination from reality or if he/she becomes obsessed with their dolls to the point that they can never leave them alone or that they become isolated from other aspects of everyday life because of living in the dolly world, then that is a danger sign.

 

It may be mostly imagination to love your dolls and think they are real, but the attachment to a doll is definitely real. Anyway, I don't see much harm in becoming attached to a doll...

 

I don't think that believing your doll has real emotions or a soul constitutes psychosis. I agree with the thought of people hearing their dolls talk back to them as a symptom of something not quite okay (like the saying, "it's alright to talk to yourself, as long as you don't talk back/lose an argument/etc.).

But I also think those feelings stem from religious beliefs. Like I believe that there is energy in everything, and that energy can be good or it can spoil. It gives my dolls their personalities. Raz came in with a pretty open personality, one that I got to fill in as I went along, but my newest doll, Hanna, came secondhand from someone who ignored her for months before giving her to me. Hanna is very sweet, but she doesn't have much of a personality. It's very blank and very frustrating because her energies won't take to the personalities I try to give her. I don't think that's psychosis, even though I believe their emotions and energies are very real and palpable things. I just think it's a personal belief that differs from person to person.

 

My dolls are all modeled on characters I write about, so for me projecting their personalities and saying they have feelings is more in testament to the characters i projected a part of myself onto, if they are happy or sad etc, its because I project the characters reactions / emotions to a situation onto them. It's similar with roleplay characters my friend and I have, we ask the characters what they want etc, when really all where doing is fabricating the right response to a situation based on the character we created... if that makes sense... we even buy items to represent them and decide what "they think is best", but we're well aware that its just our subconscious making a decision based off our own perception of a character, so its pretty much the same thing

 

There is a major difference between using imagination to construct characters with personalities out of our dolls and actually believing that they are somehow ?alive ?sentient ?spiritual etc... Using your imagination whilst still knowing that something is purely an imaginative construct is a whole lot different to a psychotic loss of touch with reality.
I have always had what many call an overactive imagination and I find many people who are creative are like this. The point being though that while I refer to my dolls as my boys, they have names, personalities (that I have attributed to them) and I care about them I do understand that they are inanimate objects. I have noticed that many imaginative/creative people are drawn to bjds as they are a wonderful way of letting your imagination run wild. We get enjoyment out of making our fantasies into something solid (such as shelling an important oc) that we can use as a form of self expression.
If anyone is having problems with separating this fantasy world from reality though this can indicate a possible problem and they should seek out suitable medical advice.