Many parents are frightened when they find out that their son or daughter has got himself … an imaginary friend and they talk, play with him as if they were real. What about the child, why does he “hear voices”?
For a long time, it was believed that closed, insecure, shy children invent a non-existent friend. Doctors even saw in such behavior a harbinger of mental illness.
Researchers at the University of Durham in the UK, led by Dr. Charles Fernyhaugh, came to exactly the opposite conclusions: “Such children are less shy than their peers, they have a well-developed imagination, and they understand other people better.” The problem arises only if fantasies are combined with strange, inappropriate behavior.
Now psychologists face another question: why does the image of an imaginary friend disappear even before the child reaches the age of 10 years (usually at 7-8)?