Abstract

MARION, Juliana; LONDERO, Angélica Dotto; PEREIRA, Caroline Rubin Rossato  and  SOUZA, Ana Paula Ramos de. The imaginary friend in the view of child psychologists and psychiatrists. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2018, vol.24, n.3, pp. 812-833. ISSN 1677-1168.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9563.2018v24n3p812-833.

This research meant to understand how professionals in Psychology and Psychiatry, working in child clinic, understand the presence of the imaginary friend phenomenon in childhood. Three psychologists and two psychiatrists with five or more years of experience were interviewed about their professional practices. Participants were recruited at clinical care for children in a city in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul State. The content analysis indicated that the professionals considered the phenomenon as a healthy development event and easily distinguishable from symptoms of psychosis. Moreover, they believed that fantasy could serve as a resource for professionals to investigate the psychic reality of the child, facilitating communication during care. From these results, we sought to contribute to the scarce national literature on the subject, to the practice and knowledge of professionals in children health, as well as to all of those who are in constant contact with children (school professionals, family members, etc.).

Keywords : Imaginary friend; Child development; Psychosis; Children’s imagination.

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