The reality of “the imaginary friend”

The need for human companionship is inherit in all of us, though innocent at best and sinister in the worst of scenarios, the desire for friendship is never more prevalent than in young children. In order to tackle the stifling blanket of isolation shrouding their young lives, these juvenile youngsters conjure up various different imagined playmates; their parents unwilling or unable to devote the appropriate amount of time to their offspring, dismiss these malevolent developments as nothing more than childish shenanigans, and accredit the creation of these characters to overactive imaginations. But are they merely fantastical beings? Or is there more to “the imagined friend” than meets the eye?

The initial assumption, would be that an imaginary friend is conceived in order to satisfy the void of loneliness inside a child, however, a recent compilation of some of the more sinister statements youngster have uttered in regards to their imagined friends challenges this belief and poses the question that none has yet to answer; Are imaginary friends proof of an overactive mind, or are they beings (demonic or otherwise) only made manifest to childish innocence, uncorrupted by the cynicism of our society?

In one particularly disturbing instance a young girl of three tells her parents about her imaginary friend “Kelly” fast forward two years, as the family sit watching the horror movie “Amityville”, their five year old daughter stumbles onto the scene, precisely at that moment, the dead soulless demon appears on screen. The child casually remarks that the macabre phenomenon is the spitting image of her friend “Kelly”. The family shocked as they are ignore all this and simply continue with their day to day lives. Personally, upon reading this. one would strongly suggest a psychiatrist for this child. Either she is delusional, or the child suffers from (judging from this scenario) a case of pathological lying. In any case, a psychiatrist would be the best possible solution for this particular youngster.

Another child, this time a little boy of age 7 claimed his acquaintance and accomplice aptly named “the captain” would continually instruct him to commit murder, upon protesting, “the captain” would argue that after a while, the killing would become enjoyable. Regardless of whether or not “the captain” was a figment of the boy’s imagination, medical help would surely benefit this disturbed prepubescent. Perhaps some time spent in an institutional asylum off sorts would cure him of his insanity.

Though we have come to accept “the imaginary friend” as a common place feature of childhood, one would argue that if we were to pause and process what the children around us are truly saying, we would conclude that many of them deserve to permanently be institutionalised and guided through the perilous road that is childhood. If their minds conjure up scenes of murder and other such sombre scenarios of their own volition, then a visit to the psychiatrist for a thorough assessment would most certainly not be amiss.  After all, one less psychopath integrated in our society simply means a safer existence for all. Imaginary friends, whether they be individuals from the spiritual realm or otherwise, a surely an insight into the psych of our children and they should not be lightly dismissed.

Original article: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jenlewis/the-creepiest-things-a-kid-has-said-about-an-imaginary-fr