Is your child’s “imaginary friend” imaginary or real? A case study

Is your child’s “imaginary friend” imaginary or real? A case study 

Stafford Betty

She grew up in a house with loving parents and a sister six years her senior. She had no playmates her own age and surmised that her loneliness drew her friends, three girls her own age, to her. Their names were Francie, Belikoma, and Gopi. She played with them everyday until she went to kindergarten. During the summer between kindergarten and first grade, they showed up again. They swam with her in the nearby bay. They wore their regular clothes, no bathing suits, but never seemed to get wet. One day the leader, Gopi, drowned.

I found this surprising claim intensely interesting and asked Brenda a series of questions. Did she, a child of six, witness the drowning? Was she upset, distraught? Were Francie and Belikoma distraught? What happened next? Her answer was not what you would expect. Brenda did not witness the drowning. Somehow she just knew that Gopi drowned. Brenda does not remember being distraught at all, even though she would never see any of the three again. Thinking back, she remembers feeling that her friends had become a little boring. It was as if their presence could not compete with her new school friends, and they knew it. The drowning was not literal; it was a symbol of their permanent departure.

What does Brenda take away from her vivid early memories? Did the questions a professional like me bombarded her with loosen her belief in the reality of her friends? After all was said, might they have been imagined? “Not a chance,” she said. “I know what it means to imagine something. We all do. These were spirits with a life of their own. I believe they came to me because I was lonely, but I also believe they had something to gain by coming.”

I think this is the child's drawing mentioned in the article.

https://ifunny.co/picture/this-is-lisa-s...-UPrY5qdz7

This is Lisa. She my friend. My mom and dad can't see her so they said she is an imaginary friend Lisa nice friend.

There are several drawings in the series.

Her friend look's like a zombie.

I think this is the child's drawing mentioned in the article.

https://ifunny.co/picture/this-is-lisa-s...-UPrY5qdz7

There are several drawings in the series.

Her friend look's like a zombie.

Yeah seems like Betty was referring to someone trying to pass off this story as real, or someone who took a real story Betty saw and turned it into this horror fiction.

Yeah seems like Betty was referring to someone trying to pass off this story as real, or someone who took a real story Betty saw and turned it into this horror fiction.

Rather than try to interpret an Internet image of a child's drawing that may or may not be authentic, I'll go with Stafford Betty's actual quote of Brenda's own words, "Not a chance,” she said. “I know what it means to imagine something. We all do. These were spirits with a life of their own. I believe they came to me because I was lonely, but I also believe they had something to gain by coming.”"