Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder

Wow just wow. I know everyone says they thought they were crazy but i honestly thought i was insane.It started young for me about 6 or 7, i went through A LOT of trauma and abuse and it just got worse, ive grown to develope a strong social anxiety and have become an introvert when i used to be an extrovert and have become depressed. I have always daydreamed out of boredom to just escape a bleak reality but grew further into an unhappiness with who i was and dreamt i was someone amazing. Anything froma hero to a celebrity and it would always give me this strong sense of joy and just being accepted in my own mind. From a younger age i would do hand signal etc just to visualise the storys i played out in my head but my parents began to notice and would heckle me for it not knowing what i was doing. In fear of embarrasment i hid it and would just visualise in my head with maybe a tapping of thee foot or something. Anything will trigger it, just sitting around for more than 10 seconds and i will start daydreaming or music or TV and the worst probably Anime just because of how creative my mind has become from it. Why i fear it is that it is all false. None of the happiness is real and im using it to escape my depression and pretend i am happy which is why i need to stop. I cant supplement dreams for how content i am with my real life. It has its benefits as it strikes my creative side but i just cant anymore. I have enough problems.I cant even tell anyone which is why i have to come to silly forums and spread my problems to people who dont really care but i need to tell someone and no one else will understand.If this helps even a little bit with anybody else with this problem, it was worth telling.

Glad to meet this forum.

I am also suffered from MD. I've searched many information about this disorder and tried recovering myself. I want to be a normal person and can enjoy the sense of real life properly in which I've never feel whole my lifetime.

This blog is one of my favorites. It was written by ex-MDer and I find it very encouraging to me. I even read it more than once and copy the writing into my diary book. https://wildminds.ning.com/m/discussion?id=4661400%3ATopic%3A201335

Admitedly, we can cure Maladaptive daydreaming. I've read several stories frome those who were recovered from this MD. Although I am in progress to be recovered from this disorder, I positively belive that this attemption will work.

for me maladaptive daydreaming started as a when i was just a child about 8 years old, it was beautiful, it was convenient ,and i enjoyed it, i began to engage in it often and it was difficult for me to concentrate on school work and keep up with my daydream life. i continued to engage in it and after day dreaming for a while i would have this unbearable pain in my chest. i became so depressed and started contemplating sucide. i live in Nigeria in my country there are no therapist

Hi. My girlfriend "suffers" from this disorder. I once sent her a link that explains what it is and she said to me that it is exactly what she goes through. She tells me that she hated doing it but that she is addicted to it and can't stop. Not to sound selfish because she even agrees with me, but, it is damaging our relationship. We talk sometimes and she would go away for hours saying nothing. She rocks while she does it whenever she is gone and it makes us not be able to talk. She tells that she's tried everything stop but can't. I just wanted to ask everyone (that doesn't do it anymore) how they overcame it. Do you still have tendencies to do it or do you just not feel the need? Is it a matter of waiting it out and hoping it will stop or did you do something to stop it? Thank you in advance.

I have suffered from social anxiety disorder since I was a child, and started suffering from maladaptive daydreaming in my early teens. I did not find until recently that what I had been experiencing all of these years actually had a name, I assumed I was the only one going through this. I have never told anyone about it until now, not even therapists. I have been too embarrassed. Since I suffer from social anxiety disorder, maladaptive daydreaming is a way to escape my life and the reality of my life. The problem is that recently, my maladaptive daydreaming has gotten a lot worse. It all started with a movie I saw. I really enjoyed the characters in the movie, particularly the relationship that two of the siblings had in the movie. And I wish I was living the life that a particular character had in the movie. I can hardly sleep because of my daydreaming, and wish I could spend all day daydreaming instead of lhaving to live my real life. I am also severly depressed because I cannot live the life like the character in the movie in real life, and have to live my life. Has this ever happened to anyone? That you are deptessed because youbcannot live the life of your character?

I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one having this issue . I'd rather call it a gift . We have the ability to reside in 2 worlds at the same time.

Wow it's such a relief to know that I'm not the only one out there.

I don't know why I'm choosing to stay stuck in daydream mode but then I remember that whenever I "go out there" I am rejected and criticized by friends or lovers. My feelings don't matter to the people I care about. Its all my worst nightmare.

I'm scared as hell to be a woman and stand up for myself. I'm a coward. I sometimes secretly mock those less fortunate than myself who are rejected from society. I can only hide from the world I hate so much and daydream I'm someone else somewhere else. A great solution to my problems.

I'm the one who has to be responsible for my thoughts, feelings/emotions. No one else can be me for me. I am choosing this state of mind for myself. The only question is why?

I didn't realise that I had a problem until I had a baby. I'd be sitting by her but instead of playing with her I'd be daydreaming. I don't want to do that to my daughter. She deserves better. And frankly some of my daydreams scare me.

I literally spend whole days, and not 2 or 3 but a series of days, doing absolutely nothing but daydream regardless of how urgent, important or interesting that that i'm doing. I haven't been diagnosed by a therapist but I do have all he symptoms of MDD. Also one of my closest and dearest relatives recently got very ill but I almost feel nothing. I attribute that to the fact that i'm living in a virtual realm most of the time. I want to feel REAL emotions, I want to live normally in reality not some imagined world of mine yet I fail most of the time to resist daydreams. Additionally I haven't really been through a traumatic experience before.and es ehile one of my parents did beat me sometimes it wasn