Is it common for children to have imaginary friends in general?
A quick Google seems to suggest it's in the 50-65% range for 7 year olds. The article states that it's less prevalent for autistic children.
I'm not yet fully convinced it's a part of "healthy play" and not a coping mechanism for early childhood trauma (especially given how widely accepted and common a lot of trauma-inducing behavior still is in modern parenting, not to mention how socially isolating the modern family structure can be).
As far as I can tell it's not trauma induced, the person is neurodivergent though, intelligent, a good parent, counselor and has a healthy and developed ego. We sometimes speculate about the parallels with a religious outlook as it's a personally experienced living and breathing reality (I'm a bit jealous of), there is no claim to an objective reality apart from our consensus reality.
About paracosm: "The creator of a paracosm has a complex and deeply felt relationship with this subjective universe, which may incorporate real-world or imaginary characters and conventions. Commonly having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is often developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time, months or even years, as a sophisticated reality that can last into adulthood.[1]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracosm
When you had an imaginary friend, did you know that they were imaginary? I had toys that I talked to and played out scenarios with so I am wondering if they are equivalent.