Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder
Hi! ^_^
I was wondering if anyone else 'suffers' with Maladaptive daydreaming disorder.
Iused tosuffer, now I really just use it as a tool to keep me from going insanelybored in this place we call real life.
I wanted to know, does anyone emotional react externally to things happening in theirdaydreams too? I've cried, yelled, and laughed before. XD
Also, has anyone ever got *caught* doing it? If so, how did the other person react ?
Andddd lastly, for those who think I'm bonkers, here's a popular internet star to describe how he goes through it. :p
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIdxjeqb2BA
And I thought, I was the only one to be doing this. I have done this in my childhood. As a kid I was a very lonely person and this helped me get over my loneliness. I knew that I was imagining and none of this was true, but sometimes imagining helped me get over my agitation, my pain, my loneliness. It made me happy. I have tried hard to get over it. But after a while it gets boring and I'm like" What the hell, who wants to be normal anyway. This makes me happy and that's more important." So, I continue to do this. It makes me happy. Sometimes, I have lived my imaginations, Lived with my characters. Cried, laughed, been mad at for things that aren't even happening in reality. Am I Insane?
This is so crazy. I just found out today about this thing today. From early teens I started a daydream me been the character but a more important me. This day dream has gone on for years and evolved, with other characters who are not real, but I care about them as if they were. It's frightening to think how many hours, days I've wasted on this make believe fantasy also living out the dream.
Far from insane. ^_^ This sounds like a regular thing for maladaptive daydreamers. You mentioned you had a lonely childhood, which is also understandable to why you created a second world in your mind.
I used to struggle with it, but now I use it as a healthy coping skill. It's really helpful, because the relationships that I have in my daydreams keep me strong.
I know that it sounds crazy, but Im sure that anyone who has MDD knows what Im talking about.
Im still working on not feeling ashamed of it. I know that neurotypical people (people who dont have any mental illness) would see it as something wrong, but I think is important to understand that everyone sees life differently, and that there isnt actually right or wrong.
We shouldnt be afraid to be different from what society sees as the norm.
Well said! ^_^ Sigmund Freud has even called daydreaming in general a way that people can sort out and deal with their problems. :) WHat you had said reminded me of this qoute.
Yeah, totally!!
I've even used my daydreams as a tool to work on my recovery, and it really helped me!
Hello, I'm new here...
But actually I was recently discovered that I also have this Maladaptive Daydreaming disorder in me.... and yes, I daydream for hours/day... and actually it feel great, like you're watching a movie or sth... I can't get it off my mind, and kinda afraid if I lose my fantasy world...
Is this disorder actually a bad thing??
It's only a bad thing if it's hurting you in some way :)
I used to be really depressed, so I used my daydreams as a way to escape reality, which was a destructive way to cope, but also the only one I had.
Now that I'm free of depression I still daydream quite a lot in a daily basis, but not as a tool to dissociate, but as a healthy coping skill to keep me company and give me support :)
So it kinda depends on your situation. Maladaptive Daydreaming is not bad per se, it's just a symptom, like anxiety or dissociation. What you need to work on are the problems in your life that lead you to have these symptoms.
Hope that helps :)
Oh, I see...
thank you that was really helpful....
I've been hiding this thing from my closest friends and family, cuz I'm afraid they'll think I'm weird... But, now I found that a lot of people are experiencing the same thing as me...
thanks guys!!
No problem!
But also, you don't really need to tell anyone if you don't want to. Specially if you think they'll not understand. You don't have to put yourself in that situation.
(and even more considering a lot of people don't know what Maladaptive Daydreaming is, so it's harder for them to understand)
At least that's my opinion :)
Yea... I guessed you're right... I think that's the best thing to do...
Whatever you think is best 
I honestly didn't know this was a real condition until finding this site. Within the last year I have found myself daydreaming excessively. It usually distracts me from having to think about my own problems, or provides me with hope for my future. It's getting to the point where it's inhibiting my school life, driving, and my ability to listen to people. Lately I dream about being a kid again and having different parents to love me, nurture me, laugh with me, talk to me, hold me, pray with me, and then dream about being my current age(20), and having those parents. I then daydream about being a mother and loving my spouse and kids someday. These day dreams only burry me further into depression. I don't want to admit I'm depressed so I go back to daydreaming it just numbs everything. How do I break this vicious cycle and accept myself/life, and focus on the positive.
Hi :) Maladaptive Daydreaming is an extreme form of coping that we use when we're really stressed. As you said, it can be caused by your depression.
I totally get what you're saying, but I don't know how to break the cycle, since I haven't stop daydreaming, I just use it in a healthier way (because I still need it to cope).
That being said, I think that the best you can do is what I told BlackTea: try to work on the things that cause you stress in your life (maybe with therapeutic help), so then the symptoms (like MMD and depression) will go away.
Best of luck :)
Thanks! I really liked the way you defined MDD. I get stressed out so easily and I hide all my problems and emotions inside so it's really starting to make more sense how all these uncontrollable symptoms keep showing up in my life. Thanks for your advise, it's honestly therapeutic just to know there are other people dealing with this disorder.
Okay so now im fifteen but for as long as i can remember, ive been daydreaming. When i was 5, i remember that i had book charachters, movie charachters and tv show characters as my friends
They all loved me and i could do no wrong in front of them. My MD is that they're always there, in the background and "they" think that i cant see them. I know they arent real but they feel so real to me. I have a whole world dedicated to them. I dont "slip" into daydreams, my charachters are always there
Its scary how much ive grown with them. I tried to stop once but i ended up really sad and i was crying because im too attached to them. They're more like family now.
I need help but idk how. I have depression now and i guess they're a coping strategy. I have a boyfriend in my other world and he loves me so much and yes i know i sound like a freak but i just wanted to ask if this is MD or if im really insane
@U78ruwuqoj Hi! It does sound very much like MD to me :) Have you tried talking to a therapist to help you work on all of this that you're going through?
That would me my recommendation to you. Dealing with mental health issues is really hard, and you don't have to do it alone.
@astm im scared that the therapist will think im crazy (i certainly believe i am)
Hi @U78ruwuqoj. Chin up. Don't be embarrassed and your therapist would not think you are crazy. Your therapist would help you to understand your condition better and how to cope with it. Go ahead and talk to your therapist or counselor .
Hi guys! Thought I should share this site for you: Wild Minds Network.
Is a community for people with Maladaptive Daydreaming. Maybe it can make you feel you aren't so alone in this :)
I daydream absolutely all the time, about everything. It's become such a natural thing that I can be a responsive listener and no one ever knows that I'm dreaming at the same time. I drive for a living and while I drive I am daydreaming. I have no problem paying attention to the road and traffic. My dreams can be about anything at anytime. I can see a person or thing and form an entire world around it instantly. Sometimes I'm a hero, sometimes a villian. Sometimes my dreams are fantasy based with magic or flying, and sometimes it's just me as I am.
I am perfectly in tune with my non stop daydreaming, in fact I am playing a thousand dreams in my mind right now. Sometimes I daydream the most mundane things like shopping. Other times I am flying through the world on angels wings casting spells and winning Battles.
It sounds like I'm in control, well adjusted to my never ending dreams right? I am, and that's the problem. Who could possibly live up to my imagination? Who could possibly make me feel the way I imagine feeling in my mind? Nobody. No one will ever compare to what's in my mind.
So everyday when I imagine how my wife will greet me when I come home, and of course she doesn't, I'm disappointed. I feel bored and depressed because it seems she must not feel enough for me because if she did, she would act as I thought she would. Of course, that's the problem with me. I can imagine such fantastic things, but I can't have them or feel them, not for real.
And so I'm depressed and lonely. I am bored with everyone and everything because of my imagination and false reality. And no one can really be expected to live up to my mind's picture.
