Maladaptive daydreaming and how to know if you have it
Most people daydream, maybe even every day, but, certain individuals possess the ability to daydream so vividly that they can experience their presence in the imaginary environment of their creation. While experiences of such vivid, active day-dreaming may seem odd to some people, they’re extremely commonplace for others, and in some cases, depending on a number of factors like severity and frequency, may suggest a psychiatric condition called maladaptive daydreaming, or MD. In addition, these individuals also experience constant compulsions to switch to the fantasy several times during the day, which has led experts to believe that it is a behavioral addiction. However, this is still an evolving area of research and is yet to be formally recognized as a disorder by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Common symptoms include:
- extremely vivid daydreams with their own characters, settings, plots, and other detailed, story-like features
- daydreams triggered by real-life events
- difficulty completing everyday tasks
- difficulty sleeping at night
- an overwhelming desire to continue daydreaming
- performing repetitive movements while daydreaming
- making facial expressions while daydreaming
- whispering and talking while daydreaming
- daydreaming for lengthy periods (many minutes to hours)
Experts still aren’t sure what causes maladaptive daydreaming.
In this link, you can take a test that will let you know if you're a maladaptive daydreamer.
I discovered I had it when I found out it wasn't normal for people to spend HOURS daydreaming about a made-up world. Oddly enough, this WikiHow article has helped me multiple times when the daydreaming episodes take up time for me to be effective and do my work. If I'm being honest, it's very tough to beat Maladaprive daydreaming simply for the fact that once you've made up a world it's hard to let go of it, since you've created it and have a special attachment to the characters you have created. Every single time I've thought I beat Maladaptive daydreaming I have relapsed. I have yet to know what life without daydreaming every day is.
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