I know it sounds weird, but you know how kids tend to have imaginary friends? Well, I’m an adult and I still have them. I have a ton of them that I put in a story I make. I keep trying to get rid of them but they keep coming back. When I looked it up, I found something that’s extremely close to what’s going in with me: Paracosm. Paracosms are thought generally to originate in childhood and to have one or numerous creators. The creator of a paracosm has a complex and deeply felt relationship with this subjective universe, which may incorporate real-world or imaginary characters and conventions (Taken from Wikipedia). Sometimes people take their imagination and their fiction world beyond limits which leads to a condition called, Paracosm. Paracosm is a phenomenon where a detailed, imaginary world is created in one’s mind. Paracosm is a fiction world involving humans and animals and even aliens or other fantasy characters. there’s a chance I might have this but I’d probably have to go to a therapist or doctor to get tested for it to see if I do.
What do you guys think? This is really close to what I’m going through.
I’ve personally never heard about Paracosm before, but it’s very interesting - thank you for sharing. If you feel like this is something that relates to what you are experiencing with your imagination, then it’s certainly something to try to dive into a little more.
All in all, I hope you know that there is no shame at all for having imaginary friends/an imaginary world. Whether it is during childhood or adulthood. Imagination - and more generally all the possibilities that our mind offers - can be used in so many different ways, and for many of us it also becomes just a safe space when the world feels too dangerous. I myself acknowledged a couple of years ago how much imaginary conversations with people I know or am meant to meet for the first time can be something that helps me to self-regulate my emotions. But when I’m into it, I can really feel the depth of emotions I would feel if the situation was happening, which is disturbing sometimes, but in the end there’s always a moment when my mind clicks and I go back to my other occupations. I know it’s different from what you describe, but all of this to say: imagination is a great tool for many of us, and is too often under-estimated when it comes to mental health.
What matters though, before any temptation to psychologize what you are experiencing, is how you feel about it. Are reality and imagination things you can distinguish easily? Are these paracosms of yours something that interfere with your quality of life in any way?
In any case, you are not weird at all, and nothing in what you have shared sounds weird. No worries. What’s going on in our mind is an entire world in itself - no matter how, it has to be respected.
I actually include my imaginary friends into whatever I’m doing. Like, when I’m listening to music, I like to pretend I’m singing to them. I act out whole scenes but when I have to go outside my room I go out of the world… though a lot of times I end up turning the rest of my house into apart of my world if I’m staying in a particular room doing something. Whenever someone comes into my room or interrupts me, I am able to turn off my world. It doesn’t really interfere with my quality of life much, other than it does make me happy.
Hi, friend! I have never heard the term paracosm before, but what you are describing might also be maladaptive daydreaming. It is a condition where your mind tends to drift away into a highly detailed world that you have created and it can often be triggered by music. I have been experiencing it for my entire life and also often daydream about singing or playing music for others! I am now in my mid-20s and still daydream to help myself deal with stress or fall asleep.
Whatever it is you are experiencing, it is always a good idea to talk to a therapist about this to see where the root causes of your daydreaming are coming from. You can learn a lot about your mind and subconscious from this kind of stuff
Interesting, I’ve never actually heard of this before, I guess this is the term that is used before delving into tulpamancy. Btw that’s another term that can be used. Say if you ever decide to take the world building and thoughtform developing seriously, you can actually work with it enough your thoughtforms can become sentient and have their own way of thinking apart from you inside the head, which is a Tulpa. Some times this can happen accidentally and sometimes on purpose.
Reading a bit more into this it’s possible you may be experiencing both.
Just throwing this out there because this is another possibility.
When you described this, the first thing I thought of was the Steve Carrell movie “Welcome to Marwen.” I think that’s an extreme of an extreme, but I don’t see it as a bad thing if it’s not disrupting your life or disturbing your well-being. If you’ve seen that movie or know its premise, does that sound like paracosm? If you haven’t, I think it’s a really great movie worth watching
Ah. Though I actually make up a story and can change it however I want to. It’s kinda like I’m acting out a play but it’s just for myself. Im fully conscious as well
Oh my gosh this is pretty much how I feel. I’m sometimes in my own world, especially if I’m bored. It happens at work too. I remember a long time ago that I was ‘talking’ to one of my characters in my head but was unintentionally kinda talking irl but was breaking my response, and my mom asked me if I was alright XD.
do they cause you distress when you try to get rid of them? If they’re making you feel uncomfortable, or you’d like a name to place to it, a therapist is a good idea because sometimes having a name for things helps.
also, do you want them to go away? (Just asking based on the quoted bit above, you seem to be okay with them otherwise?) And lastly, how do they make you feel? Are they like the internal monologue voice some of us have, or are they like characters with backstories and stuff who chime in on your daily experiences, like narrators in games, like the Morgan Freeman voice?
They don’t. When I say I tried to get rid of them, I mean I tried to see if I could be without them. They aren’t making me feel uncomfortable as they make me feel better as it feels like I’m not alone.
I’m fine with them staying as I can’t hang out with friends as much anymore as we’re all busy, so my imaginary friends give me someone to be with. They make me feel comfortable and I like to think of them as accepting me for who I am, as my parents shared that they don’t like Lgtbq (I’m Demisexual and apart of the lgtbq) and that has made me feel unaccepted. They’re characters with backstories, as more than half of these ‘characters’ are just people in my real life, just imagined as if they are with me. The other half are people from movies, shows, or games. I tend to create more of these characters every time I watch something and it has characters I really like.
ah… thanks for the clarifications!
i mean this in a positive way, so no sass, but they almost sound like the mental equivalent of some stuffed teddy bears that sort of level of comfort and companionship, especially when you’re alone and want someone to talk with. Would that be kinda correct?
if this sounds similar, then finding the patterns like she suggests in the vid sounds like a thing you could do too, to see if it is indeed your way to escape or avoid a real life situation or if they’re sort of a safety net so you don’t have to interact and talk with the other irl people who are around you.
I actually include my imaginary friends into whatever I’m doing. Like, when I’m listening to music, I like to pretend I’m singing to them. I act out whole scenes but when I have to go outside my room I go out of the world…
Okay, this is funny, because I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid. The singing thing. I never said it though. I still do it sometimes, as a 28 years “grown” adult, lol. I don’t have specific imaginary friends, but definitely picture in my mind some familiar presences or a specific context - people are more an emotion, not a figure or anything specific, if that makes sense. It is a time when I am truly myself and feel accepted without any reservation. So far it has never interfered with my life negatively either. It’s just one thing between others during times when I am on my own.
Honestly, given what you have said just before, and as long as it doesn’t interfere badly with your life or bring you any kind of hurt, then there’s probably nothing to worry about. If you’re curious about it though, it could be interesting for you to understand why it is there/what it helps you with, since you might be tempted to explore different ways to cope when that is needed. What you have said about your family and LGBTQ+ acknowledgment is already something interesting to explore in terms of acceptance. If people closest to you don’t reflect on you something loving, then it makes sense to look after it in a different place, especially if this space is one where you get to decide what is. Now, what could be the steps to take in order to make sure that your needs would be met also in the “real” world? <3
You might want to take the test developed by the people who research maladaptive daydreaming (https://daydreamresearch.wixsite.com/md-research/measures) to see if there is anything to worry about. It sounds like you have everything under control at the moment which is wonderful!
MD has extremely negatively affected my quality of life for many years, so please remember to not give up on the real world and don’t be afraid to seek help if it’s getting out of hand
It’s awesome to try to understand one’s own experiences, however let’s not fall into any type of self-diagnosis. If that is necessary, it will need to be addressed with a professional directly.
Yep. Hence why I had in my post that I’d probably have to go to a therapist. I’m just getting ideas on what it could be, but one day I’ll talk to a therapist to see what’s going on
I still do it sometimes, as a 28 years “grown” adult, lol. I don’t have specific imaginary friends, but definitely picture in my mind some familiar presences or a specific context - people are more an emotion, not a figure or anything specific, if that makes sense. It is a time when I am truly myself and feel accepted without any reservation. So far it has never interfered with my life negatively either. It’s just one thing between others during times when I am on my own.
