imaginary freind??

nofear · Post by **nofear** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:53 am

Hello,

My 13 year old son who has has panic/anxiety for the past 4 years, ( must have gotten it from me...) is now complaining of a person who stands in the corner of his room at night, and sometimes is even present at school. He said he can sort of see the person who is a 9-10 year old boy, but it is more of an aura, and he can really feel the presence. I know he has a very hightened imagination and loves magic/fantasy etc. but this situation is scaring him, and he wants it to go away.

I am worried if I take him to a doctor he will be drugged up and labeled incorrectly, but I also don't want to miss something important here . Has anyone else's anxiety manifested this way?

thanks for listening.

concerned mom

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:06 am

I haven't meant anyone whose anxiety manifested that way, however, all the people I know are adults. Maybe it's different in children. I would def. take him to see a child psychiatrist. I'm sure they have dealt with experiences like your sons before and know the best way to help him. A lot of children make up imaginery friends, especially when they are dealing with stressful situations. I would start in that direction and see what happens. I would let the doctor know that your goal here is not to pump your child full of medicine.

Good luck.

happy2b · Post by **happy2b** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:21 am

Hi, when I was a child I swear there was a purple lady who would come into my room and try to "get me". Although she never was able to get me, I still swear what I saw was real to me. Also as an adult sometimes I would wake up and see other things such as very large spiders or bugs. Like people sized. I remember trying to close my eyes then open them to make these things go away, and they'd still be there when I reopened my eyes. They would always just seem to fade away as I stared at them longer. I was not ever on any type of drugs during these times, however I was under a lot of stress even as a child I was under extreme amounts of stress much of the time. I'm not sure these hallucinations (obviously the things I saw were not real) were from stress but it does seem like a good explanation. I never told people about these things ever until now because I don't want to be labeled as cookoo or something. Maybe the six steps from week 2 could help your son. Maybe he can use these whenever he sees this imaginary person? Hope that helps.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:33 am

hello. Don't want to scare you but I have a niece and two nephews that has seen people who were not there all of their lives. One niece has always seen dead people her brother, my nephew saw everything. When he was a kid he use to see superman crawling through his bedroom window. Last year when he starting seeing people and they were telling him to do things he got help from the doctors. All three were diagnosed as bipolar. It it use to be called manic depressive disorder. I think you should get your son checked out just to be sure that it's not that.

Serenity66 · Post by **Serenity66** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:51 am

if your son is watching alot of supernatural tv with events like this happening in them it can trigger him to feel those sensations as well.....

I would take him to see a therapist so that he can learn to properly handle his imagination and not let it scare him. I agree with the post that encourages you to stand up for what your looking for in treatment for your son...explain that your looking for positive reasurance that he is ok not for someone to just drug him up and send him on his way....remember doctors work for you! Not the other way around. Keep looking till you find a good one....a good place to start for a referral is your pediatrician....ask them who they would recommend. It usually stands true that if you like your doctor they tend to associate with people with similiar practice beliefs.

Another place to get some good advice is the school social worker/pychologist. All public schools have them on staff....dont let that scare you they are good people and there to help. They are usually very compassionate and helpfull.

Good luck

Dodger

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:37 pm

there is a show on tv about kids who are psychic- paramormal - I think is called - some of these people believe the kids are very sensitive and can see spirits and people who have died visit them - this is seen as a gift not a sickness - many viewpoints to this I guess-so maybe this is what is going on with your son- I have dishnetwork - not sure the channel-anyway on the show the kids are helped to deal with it and understand-

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:16 pm

Sounds like schizophrenia. Some people I know may disagree. My uncle and my ex-boyfried believe in spirits and other realms next to ours. They are both perfectly sane and don't have anxiety at all. It might be more than just seeing a spirit if it is causing him anxiety though. According to my uncle they can't hurt you, but according to my ex they have tried to take him away. I don't know. Lets keep the focus on recovery though.

God Bless,
Kristina

Mimigirl · Post by **Mimigirl** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:46 pm

thanks to all of you who have shared your thoughts about this. I am going to take my son to see someone, but also want to make sure we don't make a mountain out of a molehill just knowing how obsessive compulsives tend to deal with these things! He sais it gets worse when we talk about it, and subsides if he ignores it. I feel like it's a very fine line.....

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:17 am

Good luck. I went through a lot of counseling from age 6 to 16. I hated medications mostly because I didn't know who I was off of them. I will vouche for the system because I learned a lot in counseling. Just remember expectations and expect him to be ok first. I know my last post was fluffy, but it's what some of my friends/family believe not me.

God Bless,
Kristina