Imaginary friends are part of normal childhood development, but clinicians should assess rigidity, distress, or functional impairment to separate healthy play from underlying concern issues.

Is your child all of a sudden playing with an imaginary friend? Parents whose children develop an invisible playmate might be wondering why this is happening or what it means. Dr. Ashley M. Whitaker ...

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters. At Vox, our mission is to help you make sense of the world — and that work has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own. We ...

Psychologists don’t totally agree on how many of the world’s children have imaginary friends, but get enough of them together and they’ll give a ballpark figure. For invisible friends, the number is ...

This weekend, John Krasinski’s IF, a fantasy comedy about imaginary friends, was released. The concept itself is familiar as there have been many imaginary friend movies in the past; Hollywood has ...

Four-year-old me sat at the end of the examination table, the heels of my sneakers thudding rhythmically against the base below as I swung my legs. I stared at the small geometric farm drawings on my ...

Crabby crab is my 4-year-old son Fisher’s imaginary friend. Crabby appeared on a holiday in Norway by scuttling out of his ear after a night of tears from an earache. Like other childhood ...

Crabby crab is my four-year-old son Fisher's imaginary friend. Crabby appeared on a holiday in Norway by scuttling out of his ear after a night of tears from an earache. Like other childhood ...

We should never stifle the vivid imaginations of our children. But sometimes, it would be nice if they didn't imagine such creepy things!