Discussion Anyone Else Deal With Maladaptive Daydreaming

[Spectre]

I've spent like the past 4 hours just pacing and fantasizing about fantastical worlds that could never exist. It happens usually when listening to music.

 

[crystal_meth97]

Yes. I totally empathize with you, as it was a major problem for me as well until a few years ago. My daydreaming had similar manifestations as yours, such as doing it while listening to music and engaging in a repetitive activity. I'd been doing it since early childhood, surely it was some sort of coping mechanism due to social isolation and lack of a real emotional connection. And a sometimes overwhelming home environment. You are not alone, although this is how it often feels like. I would spend hours daydreaming, I would make time for it even though it could impact my school performance or my daily life somehow. Thankfully it didn't, but it was distressing and made me feel alienated. Mine would also manifest as writing scenarios with the characters I had in my head, which would always involve me as a character as well. I see patterns in these fantasies, it is interesting, although they can be very distressing. There was a forum for people with MDD, I can't find it anymore, but you can check it out, maybe it can help you feel less alone in this if this is how you feel. I used to go there years ago and it helped to a certain extent. I would also stay awake on purpose to daydream before going to sleep, for hours, which made me feel wired and excited and would impact my sleep. I was still dealing with this issue, MDD, until I started getting more involved in real relationships. I would still do it before falling asleep until I formed a meaningful emotional connection with someone. It just vanished, the MDD, but it doesn't work like that for everyone, as MDD doesn't always develop out of isolation and loneliness I think. Good luck in managing this, I know it can be a pain in the ass. And feel free to PM me if you want to talk about this, maybe having someone who can relate will help.

 

[Agon321]

This "problem" has been with me for as long as I can remember.

I created countless universes in my head, utopias, dystopias, visions of another reality, etc.

In these worlds I am usually what I want to be, because in reality I am a disappointment in a disappointing world.

I can say that I am already dead because I live in completely different worlds.
I'm just keeping my body alive in this world.

Fuck this world.
I am God and pray to me.

 

[SuicidalOrganism]

This "problem" has been with me for as long as I can remember.

I created countless universes in my head, utopias, dystopias, visions of another reality, etc.

In these worlds I am usually what I want to be, because in reality I am a disappointment in a disappointing world.

I can say that I am already dead because I live in completely different worlds.
I'm just keeping my body alive in this world.

Fuck this world.
I am God and pray to me.

Which world are you currently living on?

 

[Agon321]

Which world are you currently living on?

It's complicated and I can't answer this question ;).
But these days I focus more on fictional worlds than real ones.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I got told that my theory (the one that says that the reason I'm being pushed to die as a lonely 30 year old virgin is because my future unborn children are time travelers that wanted to end their own existences because of how shitty of a father I'd be) is a form of maladaptive dreaming but I disagree. I think it's simply the truth.

 

[Saturn_]

I don't suffer from maladaptive daydreaming; I enjoy every minute of it. Reality sucks and escapism is cool.

 

[Rocinante]

There were years I dreamed my life away.

 

[cait_sith]

I am a big maladaptive daydreamer since I can think, when I was a child my parents would call Running stories" (German: Geschichtenrennen), I would make up cartoon in my head and needed to compensate the intensity of the stories with movements, resulting with me running and jumping around on my own. There was no trauma causing this and no coping from isolation or anything, it just always was there. When I got in school I first got aware how weird this was to others when I would run on my own through the school yard. When I got older the things that I imagined got a lot less creative as I would imagine being successful, reimagining situations from real-life, being artist and other things and I still do this to this day. With time I developed some tics while daydreaming accompanying the repetitive movements like doing weird squelching noises that only come aware off when I snap out of the thoughts. Being old now my legs are fucked from running and jumping so much, I am ashamed of this behavioural abnormality and I think it's horrible and I hate myself for not being able to grow out of this. I will not bear the shame of getting even older with this. It's just one of these things that you can't explain to people, writing this down makes me feel retarded

 

[Eternal Pessimist]

I've been daydreaming since I was a little kid. I guess all children do that, but I never grew out of it. I had it under control, for the most part, until I got depressed. Since then I've spent more time inside my head than in the real world.

It has almost been like a drug addiction. I listen to music, pace, zone out and spend hours in my fantasies. Much like with drugs the joy I get from daydreams has weakened over the years. When my daydreaming first started becoming maladaptive it felt absolutely incredible, but these days I don't get the same intense feelings out of it, not even close.

 

[eatantz]

I think its really common, loads of people do it and don't even realise. I live in countless worlds which are so real that i can writes whole books out of them, i think maladaptive daydreaming is common in people with creative minds. Its a great ability to escape into another world whenever you want, i get so invested i even draw my characters and worlds.

 

[Spectre]

Note: i never said maladaptive daydreaming was a problem

 

[kyhoti]

Yep. It's a problem for me, as I return from those trips acting as if they actually happened, kind of like walking out of a John Wick movie thinking I'm a bad-ass, not a fat-ass. I have to conciously remind myself that I'm in the present, not the past, future or the fantasy-land, or I start spiralling.