Is it healthy to repeatedly role play a certain character sometimes for hours on end and at home in the car and other places?

Answer 1

As long as it isn't hurting anyone, then there is no cause for alarm.

Unless you are practicing for a play or plan on becoming a movie or pop star in the near future I would say "no" this is not healthy. Many of us will sing along with our favorite pop artist, or sometimes we will even joke around and imitate our favorite actor, etc., but to do it constantly is rather strange. Usually when people constantly joke, speak in different voices it's because they are uncomfortable with who they are and they lack self-confidence.

I'm interested, what certain character do you imitate?

Well, I say "role-play" because I believe, in essence, that is what it is, even though it serves no purpose (ie I'm not practicing for anything) But it's as if I become whatever character I want to imitate: my speech, my movements, even my thoughts...I can stop at any time, but I find myself doing it more and more frequently.

I'm particularly fond of certain actors (I won't mention their names) and if I am really attached to or like a character they play in a movie, I will then proceed to imitate that character.

I know it's weird, and whenever I'm not doing it I feel awkward...

I did this for a large portion of my childhood, from about ages 5-12. I was always the same character, someone I made up, and I was just about constantly role-playing in my head, although I would seem perfectly normal like myself to everyone else. No one ever knew about my imaginary world. At night I would lie awake for hours playing out stories of things that happened to my character and all the supporting characters that grew and changed as i did. There were about 20-30. In addition to this I role-played like many children do as mothers to dolls, pet owners, waitress, doctor, princess, etc, either with a friend or by myself. But this was just normal if sometimes extraordinarily imaginitive play. Anyway, about age 12 I lost the ability to play and have it seem real, and around this time i also started liking boys, and my entire world that i had lived in for the past 7 years rapidly faded away. It was very very hard. I still have never heard of anyone else role-playing in their head like I did as a kid, so this is very interesting to me. Have you always done this? How old are you? Do you only do it when alone, or can you secretly role-play in your head even when socializing like normal?

I did this from when I was around 4 years old all the way until I was about 15. I would always role play alone, when no body was around to see me. I would imagine scenarios, both realistic and fictional, involving Celeberties and People I liked or knew. They would usually be mythical or comical. I would imagine all of it in my head without talking, and would almost always listen to music while I did it. It would make me feel very emotional. I enjoyed it, and I pretty much made a hobby out of it. After a while, I grew tired of it. I realized I used to do this, because I had no friends and such a low self-esteem. Now that I look back at it, its kinda makes me feel sad.

Just as long as you aren't imagining or role playing anything that involves something that is negative, violent, or disturbing in any way, I think you'll be Fine. Don't role-play around people, because they'll think your insane. Find a friend, that helped me a great deal.