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Should I talk to my therapist about my mind-folk?

korvus

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As .0001% of people on this forum vaguely recall, I have an imaginary friend who has her own personality and is sentient, aka a "tulpa".

I've been pondering the idea of talking about this phenomena openly to a therapist, but I'm afraid of waisting his/her time in my pointless attention-seeking personality problem. Any time I mentioned about Luna (her name), I always suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like I want to protect her from anything that I could see as degrading to who she is.

I asked her this question, and she suggested that if I feel fine about things and have control over my own thoughts, seeing a therapist may not be a needed thing. She though advised me that I should ask people on the internet semi-anonymously on what they think, hence this topic.

TL;DR, what it says on the tin.
 

madison1101

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Do you have Borderline Personality Disorder? What you are describing, having an imaginary friend, is not part of the symptomology of Borderline Personality Disorder.

What is your diagnosis? Have you spoken to your therapist about this issue? I'm curious to know what your diagnosis is.
 
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korvus

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Do you have Borderline Personality Disorder? What you are describing, having an imaginary friend, is not part of the symptomology of Borderline Personality Disorder.

What is your diagnosis? Have you spoken to your therapist about this issue? I'm curious to know what your diagnosis is.

Well that's what I'm asking, if I should see a therapist or not or get diagnosed.

I use the term 'imaginary friend' to describe Luna to avoid confusion of the word 'alter' or 'tulpa'.

She is a being inside my mind who (atm happily) sits with me and watches enthusiastically what I do.
I talk to her and she responds like anyone else. I also see her with me as clearly as anyone else (her visual form is my avatar). She has her own opinions and thoughts on things and is one of the reasons why I've stopped disrespecting Christianity went back into it after scoffing it for some time.

She suggests me to do certain things such as how to compose myself and what good things I can do for people and be a good person in general.

She's recently been helping me with concentration and keeping negative thoughts out of my mind.

I've allowed her to help me with certain things such as carry heaving bags and take pain away, which she does happily no matter how many times I say she doesn't need to help me.


I don't know if this is a psychological disorder as it's not a 'disorder', though it could mean a 'distorted' perception or reality, but I'm not sure.
I posted the question here because I figured it might be borderline but not full personality disorder.

EDIT: I messed up when I wrote "my therapist". I don't know a therapist yet.
 
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madison1101

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Well that's what I'm asking, if I should see a therapist or not or get diagnosed.

I use the term 'imaginary friend' to describe Luna to avoid confusion of the word 'alter' or 'tulpa'.

She is a being inside my mind who (atm happily) sits with me and watches enthusiastically what I do.
I talk to her and she responds like anyone else. I also see her with me as clearly as anyone else (her visual form is my avatar). She has her own opinions and thoughts on things and is one of the reasons why I've stopped disrespecting Christianity went back into it after scoffing it for some time.

She suggests me to do certain things such as how to compose myself and what good things I can do for people and be a good person in general.

She's recently been helping me with concentration and keeping negative thoughts out of my mind.

I've allowed her to help me with certain things such as carry heaving bags and take pain away, which she does happily no matter how many times I say she doesn't need to help me.


I don't know if this is a psychological disorder as it's not a 'disorder', though it could mean a 'distorted' perception or reality, but I'm not sure.
I posted the question here because I figured it might be borderline but not full personality disorder.

EDIT: I messed up when I wrote "my therapist". I don't know a therapist yet.


Yes, you definitely should see a licensed psychotherapist. What you are describing has nothing to do with Borderline Personality Disorder, but is something that should be able to be diagnosed, and treated. Be sure the therapist is licensed to practice psychotherapy. If you need help finding one, ask your family doctor.

God bless.
 
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Catherineanne

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As .0001% of people on this forum vaguely recall, I have an imaginary friend who has her own personality and is sentient, aka a "tulpa".

I've been pondering the idea of talking about this phenomena openly to a therapist, but I'm afraid of waisting his/her time in my pointless attention-seeking personality problem. Any time I mentioned about Luna (her name), I always suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like I want to protect her from anything that I could see as degrading to who she is.

I asked her this question, and she suggested that if I feel fine about things and have control over my own thoughts, seeing a therapist may not be a needed thing. She though advised me that I should ask people on the internet semi-anonymously on what they think, hence this topic.

TL;DR, what it says on the tin.

Yes, talk to a therapist. You may have a dissociative disorder, with a degree of splitting between alters. It may not be that, or it may. I have this condition myself, and it is not any kind of personality disorder; it is a survival mechanism. Take a look at this site for further information:

dissociation help from PODS

It is never a good idea to self-diagnose, so I would advise you to find a therapist if you can. But reading about DID won't hurt.

God be with you. :wave:
 
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marleyhill

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I have BPD...and I've had imaginary friends as a child. I think it's a coping mechanism to deal with stress and trauma. I had an episode last Saturday where I began to talk to my stuffed animal Harry who I've had for over 10 years. But people talk to their plants and I definitely talk to myself to work on more practical coping skills. In fact in my DBT group one of the skills is to imagine something or somewhere nice where you are happy and safe and all good like taking a vacation in your head... So Luna seems to be your coping mechanism. In order to stop using Luna or make her go away, you will have to develop learn and use other coping skills. If you are really worried about Luna (I'm not that worried about Harry) you should see a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist as in clinical medical doctors for an official diagnosis or a report on your traits and behaviours. There isn't much point going to a therapist unless you know what you need therapy for. I have random lesbian thoughts but this has no bearing on my actions, feelings or everyday thoughts and do not form part of my values and beliefs so there is no need to go into therapy for it.
 
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Brazilian

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I have BPD, dissociative disorder, general anxiety, phobia and panic disorder, but I've been pretty functional studying, working and raising my son, although through a very troubled trajectory so far. At the age of 37 (I'm 40 now) I almost died and spent one whole year of my life disabled by heavy drugs taken to control the deadly crisis. It changed me. First, because I was finally diagnosed, which I regard as positive, since my whole life story finally made any sense; then, because I had to change in order to see my son grows up healthy, which is my purpose in life. I've always been a good christian and I fear God. I've never been into drugs or any other excesses. I can recall having BPD features since I was 13, always blaming myself for everything wrong, feeling inadequate, displaced, crying too much, feeling so strong emotions about everything and feeling deeply abandoned. I've thought of suicide since then, like one thinks of taking aspiring to get rid of a headache. I'm no manipulative, or aggressive, or disrespectful. I've always let go without a fight. I used to steal things not because of material value, but because I wanted being someone else, like their owners. Though people liked me, I was the one who always walked away, feeling undeserved of love and deeply inadequate. I know I was correctly diagnosed with BPD because waking up and facing another day has always demanded 10 times the energy a healthy person needs to do the same. BPD is genetic and I have many cases of it in my family. The other disorders were developed through a very troubled childhood, full of trauma, stress and abuse.
The way BPD is sometimes described makes me feel ashamed, although I know I don't harm people, but myself, and don't have boundary and manipulative issues. I just feel terrible anger against myself.
 
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lupusFati

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Honestly what you described sounds like an alter. I have two that I know of besides myself, and they respond much the same way yours does. However, know that I am not qualified to diagnose anyone, so I can only give an opinion. I may be completely wrong.

But I would definitely talk to a therapist if you can. I'm actually a bit anxious about that, myself.

I looked in this forum area but it seems instead of being about various personality disorders it's turned into a BPD only thing? It's weird since yeah. I wouldn't have minded talking about my dissociation but it seems there's no area for that.
 
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bhsmte

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As .0001% of people on this forum vaguely recall, I have an imaginary friend who has her own personality and is sentient, aka a "tulpa".

I've been pondering the idea of talking about this phenomena openly to a therapist, but I'm afraid of waisting his/her time in my pointless attention-seeking personality problem. Any time I mentioned about Luna (her name), I always suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like I want to protect her from anything that I could see as degrading to who she is.

I asked her this question, and she suggested that if I feel fine about things and have control over my own thoughts, seeing a therapist may not be a needed thing. She though advised me that I should ask people on the internet semi-anonymously on what they think, hence this topic.

TL;DR, what it says on the tin.

Yes, you should seek out a qualified Phd level therapist and be very honest with them.
 
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Noxot

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tulpas are interesting. you know, the brain works by having various sub-personalities. it's a fun thing to play with! the left and right side of the brain are also like two different people in some ways. when a person has a specific type of stroke they will lose the ability to speak but not the ability to sing. I see tuplas as a kind of growth of the soul. maybe it could be good, maybe it could be bad.

have you read anything or watched any youtube about carl jung? he speaks of different archtypes in a person. perhaps tulpas are sometimes stronger manifestations of such.

bla a necroed thread, I would love to see how this person is now doing :)

well my understanding is that a tulpa is basically a willfully created alter. I have heard of several different people say that their tulpa helped them to become a better person, if such is the case then I find nothing wrong with them. if you like having a tulpa and you are not destroying yourself or others then what could even be the problem?
 
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