I have this habit of inventing imaginary characters to represent different aspects of my therapy experience. I'm not sure if it's something to do with keeping myself company, or my tendency to retreat into fantasy, or because I'm turning feelings into facts. I wondered if anyone can relate or if you have any ideas about why I do it. I never consciously think: "Hey, I'll turn that into a character." I just do it without thinking.

So far, the cast of characters includes:

Wolf and rabbit - represent different aspects of my personality. The wolf gets angry and throws tantrums, the rabbit gets scared and lonely.

Captain Transference - transference personified.

Extrapolation Dalek - my T was saying I should extrapolate and I said he sounded like a malfunctioning Dalek, and so Extrapolation Dalek was born. Unlike most Daleks, he's a force for good. Captain Transference is his arch-nemesis.

Penguin - we had a conversation where feeding zoo penguins was a metaphor and my T asked if he was the fish, so next time I got mad at him I said I felt like feeding him to a penguin. Next session, he asked if I'd brought the penguin.

Imaginary supervisor - kind of based on Gina from In Treatment even though we're in the UK. I do know why I do this, it lets me express thoughts and feelings e.g. one of my memories might make my T upset and scared. If I'm angry with him, she'll throw coffee over him.

Why do I do this? Am I just crazy?