plastic
07-09-2007, 01:21 PM
i am 21 and i have schizoaffective disorder and was also diagnosed with DID about a year ago. i started having problems with depersonalization and derealization when i was 14. this thread however is about my imaginary based self talk/imaginary friends.
i have had them for as long as i remember. i take someone i know for example my college professor and i talk to him in my head about things that have not happened and will probably never happen. as i talk to "the people" as i call them, i give them enough time to respond. i can not hear or see them and i know that they do not exist. I also talk to them out loud and sometimes i get caught. i talk to them so much that it takes me hours to get a simple project completed and i can not stop no matter what i try to do. i believe that at times i switch and different parts of me talk to "the people" as well because often times i can not remember what i have been talking about or what i have just said. often when i am talking to "the people" i will suddenly become very angry for no apparent reason or feel other emotions that seem to come out of nowhere. i will then yell or sometimes even cry and then not be able to remember what i have just said. One time i was pretending that i was speaking to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist asked me how old i was and i said 12 and i was feeling very angry. there was no one around i was merely talking to "the people."
all of my research on imaginary friends (at least what i can find which isnt much) points to schizophrenia. however i do not believe it is psychosis because i can not hear or see them and i know they do not exist. i believe it is some sort of coping strategy to combat loneliness.
i am looking for answers because no psychiatrist has ever been able to give me one and i am hoping someone will be able to shed some light because they are driving me insane.
i have had them for as long as i remember. i take someone i know for example my college professor and i talk to him in my head about things that have not happened and will probably never happen. as i talk to "the people" as i call them, i give them enough time to respond. i can not hear or see them and i know that they do not exist. I also talk to them out loud and sometimes i get caught. i talk to them so much that it takes me hours to get a simple project completed and i can not stop no matter what i try to do. i believe that at times i switch and different parts of me talk to "the people" as well because often times i can not remember what i have been talking about or what i have just said. often when i am talking to "the people" i will suddenly become very angry for no apparent reason or feel other emotions that seem to come out of nowhere. i will then yell or sometimes even cry and then not be able to remember what i have just said. One time i was pretending that i was speaking to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist asked me how old i was and i said 12 and i was feeling very angry. there was no one around i was merely talking to "the people."
all of my research on imaginary friends (at least what i can find which isnt much) points to schizophrenia. however i do not believe it is psychosis because i can not hear or see them and i know they do not exist. i believe it is some sort of coping strategy to combat loneliness.
i am looking for answers because no psychiatrist has ever been able to give me one and i am hoping someone will be able to shed some light because they are driving me insane.