Reborn Dolls: Charlotte woman credits doll collection with helping her mental health

by: Annie Szatkowski

Posted: Dec 8, 2021 / 11:16 PM EST

Updated: Dec 8, 2021 / 11:16 PM EST

CHARLOTTE (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — It’s a hobby and lifestyle that’s been highlighted on shows like TLC’s My Strange Addiction and can be found on countless YouTube channels.

While some call it odd or even creepy, one Charlotte woman tells FOX 46 that her collection of Reborn Dolls has significantly helped with her mental health.

On any given day, you’ll find Nicole Harris taking a walk in her Charlotte neighborhood.

“I used to walk 10 miles a day,” Harris said when we met with her.

Harris said strolling gives her peace, but it’s also more about what’s inside the stroller she walks with. Four dolls, so lifelike if you’re not paying attention, you’d mistake them for human babies.

Harris said, “Usually people just think that they’re real right off the bat, so they’ll just say, ‘Oh what a cute baby or how old is your baby?’”

Harris is part of the growing Reborn Doll community. A simple search online of Facebook groups, YouTube or Tik Tok will have you scrolling for a while.

“They’re made of silicone, so not only do they look real, they feel real, they move like they’re real,” Harris explained.

These dolls are made and designed down to the tiniest of details, from scratches on a baby’s face, to wrinkles on their small fingers and toes.

To be clear, Harris is fully aware of what her dolls are and aren’t.

“I know they’re not real babies,” she laughed.

However, some reborn enthusiasts get really into the hobby.

Harris explained, “They will feed them, change their diapers all day, get them a few different outfits, fix them meals. It can be a whole lifestyle.”

Those Reborn Moms have dedicated YouTube channels for their routines. It’s where Harris realized these dolls might be exactly what she needed.

“There was a woman who had a lot of anxiety and she had Reborn Dolls and she said that it just changed her life for the better and I decided ‘Well, I’m a give that a try, what else do I have to lose?” Harris remembered.

Harris was diagnosed with Schizophrenia just last year but has struggled with her mental health ever since she can remember.

“Growing up, I had a lot of depression and anxiety. I was very fearful,” she said, “My brain was always so busy thinking about something from a year ago, to in the moment, to five years from now.”

The dolls bring Harris almost instant relief.

“If I’m in a state of, kind of delusions, things like that, where I can’t physically pull myself back in, all I have to do is go to my dolls and then hold and pick them up,” she said,

Harris went on to say, “It’s like the world stops spinning, stops being heavy, just lightens up.”’

It’s a coping mechanism that Charryse Johnson, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Charlotte said most of us use, we just don’t know it.

Johnson said, “You come home from a long day, feeling super stressed out, so you change your clothes, put on something warm and fuzzy that’s going to be soft towards the skin, and then you’re going to sit down and you’re going to pull a blanket over you.”

It’s that sort of behavior that can ground us and help us feel calm. Johnson went on to explain that it’s all about the psychological touch which causes a chemical reaction in your brain.

“They create what’s called oxytocin, we call it kind of like a love hormone, that literally is stimulated when there’s any kind of touch. Most of us get that from our family, we get that from hugs, or people that we love,” Johnson explained.

Some of us might use a pillow or weighted blanket to relieve stress on anxiety, Harris uses her dolls.

Harris also gets joy out of sharing her dolls and mental health journey on TikTok. She’s gained quite the following and even had one video go viral: netting one million views.

So far, she’s found a lot of support online and within the Reborn community, but she’s also had her fair share of nasty comments.

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“You’re too old to play with dolls. Grow up,” is a response she’s heard a few times before.

Harris explained that while they can sometimes be hurtful, she understands that those people might be hurting too in some way.

“They know nothing about me, they don’t even know that I have a disorder, schizophrenia, they are just judging my behaviors,” she said.

Johnson, who doesn’t treat Harris, said that her viewpoint is a healthy way to deal with mean comments.

“A lot of times, we fear and judge what we don’t understand, so one of the best things we can do is just be compassionate and if someone is finding a way to cope, that’s healthy, to just giving them the latitude to do whatever works,” Johnson explained.

While Reborn Dolls aren’t exactly cost-friendly; they can range anywhere from $100 to $5,000 depending on how elaborate they are, Harris said what he dolls have given her is priceless.

“We are all just people, there’s no normal. The normal, when it gets thrown in there just messes everything up Harris said.

Harris goes to weekly therapy and takes medications as directed by her doctors to manage her Schizophrenia.

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