When you are unhappy, do your dolls cheer you up? (Emotionally dependent on them?)

I am so happy that everyone is replying. It's so comforting to know that there are people out there that have gone through similar situations.
To all of you that are medication-free... how is it? I'm still adapting, and it's only been a few weeks. I sometimes feel the anxiety coming back, but I' m not sure if it's still just a withdrawal symptom or that the anxiety is just coming back for good... it's tricky. I had an almost-breakdown last night, so I sat down with my Pullips and dressed them up and did a halloween shoot.. hehe



Cacau: Obrigada por responder, eu entendo perfeitamente como vc se sente, e eu fico feliz que vc consiga se distrair com seus bjd's tambem. É meio foda lidar com pessoas negativas, mas é parte da vida. Esse post me faz sentir melhor ainda em relaçao à briga que eu tive com minha amiga, pois é a prova de que isso nao é só um hobbie pra gente superficial, e sim uma cura terapeutica!

 

I have a mild anxiety disorder and suffer from panic attacks. Although my condition seems to pale in comparison to many here my doll has helped me greatly. A huge problem for me is being alone especially at night and although my doll can't cuddle me and keep me warm like my boyfriend can I feel comforted that she's in the same room as me. She also helps to clam me down when I feel nervous and jittery I just look at her and I feel better. Posing her and brushing her hair helps even more.

Just this morning I was feeling depressed because its my birthday and I know I won't get anything from my family members and no one got me a birthday cake. I was about to go in to a fit of crying, but then I came here and I was comforted by everyone here and by the fact that after my birthday I'm going to buy my dream doll. Hitomi and I will have a new playmate and I will be able to make things for another doll. I'll be distracted from my condition and it makes me very happy to do anything artistic.

Art, dolls, and good friends get me though my day.

 

Dolls are therapeutic aside from being fun, and doll people are truly the nicest people I have met in all my hobbies.

::: sending big delicious birthday cake to Squllu ::::

wont ruin your day by singing though!

 

Dolls have been a great comfort to me this past year. I'm bipolar, and this year has been probably the worst to date. I've had a bad time adjusting to new meds, dealing with funerals of family and a close friend, and wrestling with crippling depression and panic attacks.

My friends have gotten quite used to the sight of me with one or another of my dolls either cradled in my arms or being toted around in my bag. Simply having one of my girls to hand has been very reassuring at times when I was feeling very wibbly.

I'm doing better now; I even managed to come off disability living allowance and get a really good job as a sysadmin recently. I'll be on meds for the rest of my life; after all, imbalances of brain chemistry such as bipolar disorder don't correct themselves. But on my current meds I'm functional, and I have my family of dolls round me.

 

The trick is to keep busy. If your mind is occupied with other things, you'l find yourself too busy to get worried or stressed

 

Jillian is one of my favorite dolls. You can tell so much of you has gone into her ~ and that goes for many others who reply here as well.

 

definetly. my therapist says i transfered all my sadness into her! i feel bad, poor jillian. haha

 

Dolls have been with me all my life from Barbie to BJD's now, and being the only child with no brother's or sister's to play with when no one else was around to protect me from a abusive uncle who kept sexually abusing me.....yeah I know these dolls are very theraputic at least for me that is

 

To explain how BJDs have helped me, I need to explain how I came to be aware of them. At the time, I was caught in an abusive relationship that was leaving me pretty miserable. I came across dollseye.com in the final, painful months of this relationship, and instantly I was hooked. Looking at the photographs was instantly soothing, which I desperately needed after being hurt... Then, as I began to recover in the months following, I found that the dolls helped when I fell into a dark mood.

Obviously, I don't have one yet, but I am on my way toward getting one. I still look at dolls when I'm upset, especially the apallingly cute child-type ones, like the Yo-SD.

All of these stories about how they have helped people are wonderful. It's amazing how much they can do for a person.

 

Yeah - I suffer from mild to severe depression (depending on events and the time of the year), and general anxiety problems - I take medications for them both. My dolls have helped me a lot to cope with life. Whether Im dressing them or talking to them... they help. I dont feel so crazy now. When Im in one of my depression fits a lot of times I find my self laying in my bed with my dolls, crying my eyes out, and talking to them as if they were real living things that could listen and care... and even if they cant, they still help me immensely and I love them completely for that.

Even when Im not struck with depression - Im usually very stressed with one thing or another, and being able to sit down with them and relax helps me very very much.

I have a habit of switching hobbies every year or so, and when I do it - its rather extreme. But no matter what my hobbie is at the time - its what saves me. My dolls seem to help more though since theyre more... real.

I can escape to them, and not fear anything.

 

**hugs**

I became disabled last year after a long fight with gradually worsening fibromyalgia . . . and also was going through the end of a relationship that had come to mean the world to me, especially with my health and personal situation being so difficult -- I hated having to leave my job, and I've since been a 'dependent' on my husband, because the process of qualifying for Social Security disability can take up to a year, and I'm not eligible for any other aid because my husband makes more than the minimum -- the problem is that when we bought our house and took on other obligations, he and I were making an equal salary . . . now I make nothing and am not able to be a full partner in the relationship because of my illness.

I've always had a tendency towards manic-depression, but all of this spiraled me down into a deep depression . . . and meds and doctors and psychiatric treatment weren't doing much to make a dent in it.

I've tried to explain to my husband how much it means to me to have an interest that encourages my creativity, has helped me make new friends, and has given me something to really look forward to and enjoy . . . because I've had to cut back on a lot of my activities and I can't always drive because of pain or the medications I'm on, it means a lot to have packages to look forward to in the mail (I consider them all to be 'presents' even if I bought them for myself!) and patient, quiet, undemanding dolls to keep me company . . . although they do speak up and demand things quite loudly on occasion, I'll admit

Aubrey: "Will you get me a body of my own already??!?"

Anyway . . . yes, I do understand and sympathize with your situation, and I'm wishing you the best . . . and screw that 'friend', that's simply not friendly behavior, there's a difference between saying that you're concerned for someone or that you don't understand where they're coming from, and saying something so negative and judgmental.

*squish*

-- Andi

 

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." Albert Einstein.

If your family and friends want to be that narrow-minded to criticize you for helping yourself, *they* are mediocre minds. A major thing that I've found is that if it makes you feel good about yourself, it's probably good for you, and if it makes you feel bad about yourself, it is DEFINITELY bad for you. This applies to most everything. If you feel bad about yourself when you play basketball, don't play. If you feel on top of the world scuba diving with sharks, go for it. Don't let others hold you down! You can do and be whatever you want, and no one has the right to criticize you for doing that if you aren't hurting anyone!

It's so inspiring to read all of this, especially that there's so much support here. I personally have not bought a doll (no money), but I have plans to make many. Even for crafting a personality for your doll, or painting the face, or sanding even, I feel like the creation of something, especially in a human form, is very powerful. It allows you not only to pour yourself into something emotionally (and work with your hands), it lets you feel accomplishment and love towards your creation. Any creative endeavor is also autobiographical to some extent; any creation is an extension of yourself and your soul and personality.

I had a really tough period about a year back. I had just moved to a place I didn't want to be, not having expected to move again, away from some really good friends who were starting to have problems of their own. On top of that, I was starting high school in a town that was like, pretending to be "Stepford Wives" perfect. (I did not see through the lies at first, so I was all "Nuu! What is going on?!...") So, yeah, with that and the teenage angst and hormonies, I got depressed. Really depressed, and all I knew was that I was painfully bored. Once I sorted out what my problems were, my grades sucked, and my mom sent me to counseling for a problem I no longer had. For example:

Counselor: What is your view on politics?
Me: Pretty grim. ::elaborates::
Counselor: What is your view on race and sex relations in the world?
Me: Better, but still bad. ::elaborates::
Counselor: What is your view on the economy?
Me: Not... good.

Etc., etc., until one day...

Counselor: I think you are mildly depressed and want to put you on some medicine. We'll try different stuff until we find what works.
Me: Um. No. I'm not depressed. I'm quite happy. Stuff's just not so great in the world situation, is all.
Counselor: Well, I think you're depressed *because you're not anything else*. Usually when we don't know, we diagnose mild depression. ((I shit you not, this is what she said to me.))
Me: We-ell, I think I'm not.
Counselor:..... ..... .....So, politics. What do you think about them?

Lather, rinse, repeat. Every week.

I got a crackpot counselor. >< I stopped going to see her after a while, because my family's insurance only covers a certain amount of therapy or something. Mostly I have issues with the extreme hobby switching, like Shelichan said, and it does get extreme. Like, I will switch from dragons to ballet to horseback riding to a little niche of history to a certain author or something. Totally random, and I will research and research until I am a living book on the subject, at least temporarily. Then I get bored, and pick something new. Dolls and other creative things are very good because they allow self-expression, let you keep yourself busy if you're fidgety, and let you get deeply involved without getting bored halfway through.

Sorry for the lengthy reply, but I meant to reply earlier and had a lot of time to think on it. Love and hugs to everyone!

~Tama

 

Same here. ops:

Had a bad time bout a year and a half ago, and found out about BJDs in the middle of that very rough patch. They were a light at the end of the tunnel for me, and though it wasn't until a year later that I finally got my own, the hope it gave me was simply amazing.

I did have hobbies before, but nothing like my dolls. I used to draw alot but even that didn't always help me when I felt depressed. Because with drawing, if I wanted to see beauty, I had to make it myself, and I didn't always have the energy to do it. With my dolls, they shower me with their beauty everytime I look at them. I understand COMPLETELY how you feel, everyone. :grin:

To this day, I really do attribute my lack of a relapse to my angel Cecilia, who held out her hand to me and helped me to keep on truckin'. :wink:

 

When I was finishing junior high and going into high school I had some bad times. Tried a psychiatrist, tried a psychologist, tried meds (which I often refused to take). In the end, taking a few months of martial arts helped me because being a dancer, my body was already sort of trained for those kinds of movements.

Now, it's a couple of years later and I'm in college (and in a new town, I moved not long after the worst of my bad times where over). I feel like I get depressed very often about my classes and I get anxious really easily (my social skills have become a step above nonexistant at times). I don't do nearly as well as I would like to, and my study habits have a lot lacking, even though I do try to work on that. I'm looking forward to paying off my tuition for the semester, taking care of a little Christmas shopping, and then starting to save seriously for my first BJD. I have many things that help me out, but I can tell that having my first dollfie will get me back into sewing and other more...productive hobbies. ^_^ Plus I'll have a gorgeous study partner right? :grin:

Tamamushiiro: you DO have a crackpot counselor, jeez I'm sorry >_< (my psychiatrist wasn't like that but he was awfully silent and put me on meds awfully fast...)

 

Sorry for double posting, bu~t!


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dunDUNdunDUNdunDUNdun!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to You~u~u!

Happy Birthday, Dear Squllu!

Happy Birthday to You!

And many moooooore!

*o0O0o*o0O0o*o0O0o*o0O0o*



::gives Squllu candy:: This is what my choir class does on everyone's birthday, so it was the first thing that popped into my head. (I won't ask how old you are, because that's a bit personal, and maybe a secret. Heh.) Even though your birthday is almost over...

Wow, that cake was surprisingly tricky. I had to do it like 5 times to get it to work right!

 

It doesn't surprise me at all that so many of us have anxiety or depression or other problems of that sort....uh wait, that sounds wrong! What I'm trying to say is that dolls are often used in therapy with children to get them to be more forthcoming, to comfort and reassure them, and to help them tell their stories. Dolls can also be an escape, a place to put our pain, or a template for us to build a stronger self from. Because they don't judge, because they don't tell our secrets, because they are whatever we want them to be, they can be the perfect companion for someone who has been hurt or misunderstood by the world at large.

It doesn't surprise me at all that these dolls, specifically made to be a blank slate for us to create whatever we choose, are being used for all the above purposes (and more) to help people through bad times. I know that when I have MiniMay to carry around with me, I will probably use her as a touchstone to better deal with my agoraphobia.

To some people I am sure that ABJD are just a hobby (well, not JUST) and they have their dolls for their own pure pleasure. But it is also pretty special that our dolls can be of real concrete help to us in dark times as well.

Karla

 

ops: I got called imature before i even started this hobby.... lol. Well think of it like this: What does mature mean? In my case the person ment (being they were "mature") getting high, clubbing, and living with a boyfriend you bearly had 2 years. Was i insulted. Hardly. LOL :wink:

 

When you are sad/stressed/upset about something do your dolls make you feel happy?

With me, when i'm realli stressed about something all i have to do is look at my dolls and they make me smile =) They sit peacefully on my bookshelf and they are always wide awake and calm, as though they have no worries in the world. Just by looking at them I tend to feel that calmness as well.
Maybe I'm weird. ehhe i dunno.. i was just wondering if your dolls has this effect on you as well?

 

Yes, yes they do!

 

Yes, I know what you&#8217;re talking about.
My dad just died, and they are some of the few things who have the ability to cheer me up! ^-^
Geeh&#8230; I wouldn&#8217;t know how I would be if I didn&#8217;t had my beautiful dollies!
They always makes me happy&#8230;