An imaginary companion (IC) has been considered to be a transitory phenomenon sometimes seen in the normal developmental process of children. In recent years, however, it has been observed that ICs are related to various disorders, and their clinical significance is again attracting notice. Although an IC may in certain ways aggravate the patient's symptoms and regression, an IC may also serve to advance the therapy, for example by indicating the location of the patient's troubles, or acting as an intermediary between the therapist and patient. In cases of dissociative (conversion) disorders, it is generally difficult for patients to verbalize their troubles, but the present patients gained insight into themselves by closely examining their ICs. Imaginary companions are not simply entities incidental to the disorder, and by incorporating them into the therapeutic strategy as a presence supporting the patient's growth, it is possible that the psychotherapy may proceed more smoothly.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1819.2003.01208.x | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Influence of a robotic companion on women's food choices: Evidence from an imaginary task.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being
November 2024
Department of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Previous research has demonstrated the influence of commensal dining between humans on food choices, whereas we conducted two studies to examine how the presence of a robot might influence people's choices between meat-heavy and vegetable-forward meals in imaginary scenarios. In Study 1, participants were instructed to choose three desirable dishes from a set of two meat and two vegetable dishes while they imagined eating alone, with a human, or with a robot. Although the meat dishes were rated as more palatable and pleasant, the female participants chose fewer meat-heavy meals when eating alone or with a robot than when eating with a human, whereas no such effect was observed for the male participants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role of imaginary companion in the life of only children: a qualitative study.
BMC Psychiatry
November 2023
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.
Introduction: An imaginary companion is an invisible or personified entity created by children for themselves. An imaginary companion typically serves as a companion to the child and plays a significant role in their life, especially for only children who may experience more loneliness compared to other children. This research was conducted to investigate the role of an imaginary companion in the lives of only children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelf-Care as Social Crafting: Transnational Narratives During COVID-19.
Med Anthropol
April 2023
University College London, Institute for Global Prosperity, London, UK.
Contrary to public health framings of self-care as individualized bodily regulation, people's transnational COVID-19 narratives revealed self-care to be a means of crafting social relatedness. In their self-care practices, interviewees drew on their richly structured field of relations, exercised dexterity and discernment in attending to them, and forged new webs of relatedness. Moreover, some recounted moments of radical care when they disregarded bodily boundaries in co-isolating with and caring for infected friends or relatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF[The tale of illness and illness as a tale.].
Recenti Prog Med
February 2023
1Medico di sanità pubblica.
The practice of medicine is something different from the knowledge of disease mechanisms and cannot be performed without the relationship with the patient. Nothing new: in 1927 - when medicine already seemed to be receiving an extraordinary boost from technology - Francis Peabody emphasised the importance of considering the patient «at the centre of his home, his work, his relationships and friends, his joys and sorrows, his hopes and fears». In the same years, Virginia Woolf came to similar conclusions but reversed the point of observation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDid Chinese children with imaginary companions attribute more agencies to non-human items: Evidences from behavioral cues and appearance characteristics.
Front Psychol
September 2022
School of Nursing and Delivering, Jiangsu College of Nursing, Huaian, China.
Previous studies have focused on the relationship between imaginary companions (ICs) and children's social developments. As far as we know, few studies have focused on the relationship between ICs and children's agency attributions. This study aimed to explore the potential differences in agency attributions between children with and without ICs, children with egalitarian IC relationships and hierarchical IC relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!