How do you daydream? (2 Viewers)

[Mayday]

omg wait what was your angstiest story/plotline? i once killed off a male persona only a few hours after his daughter was born and then had the baby mama find someone else only to realize this new guy reminded her too much of her dead boyfriend so they broke up and she spent the rest of her life alone ............ i was like,, 14 wtf

i almost killed off a male persona by making him get stabbed by an anti in his dorms and his sister was like having a breakdown

 

[Soogi]

i almost killed off a male persona by making him get stabbed by an anti in his dorms and his sister was like having a breakdown

man........... nah this daydreaming stuff cant be healthy

 

[Mayday]

man........... nah this daydreaming stuff cant be healthy

hence the term maladaptive daydreaming, bc it's not good for you

anyway you should get that checked out

 

[StrayMixx]

I daydream with J-Hope.

lol kidding! (although that would be nice...)

I just daydream about random stuff, nothing specific.

 

[Soogi]

hence the term maladaptive daydreaming, bc it's not good for you

anyway you should get that checked out

like i could ever tell someone all this with a straight face, i'd rather just daydream a therapy session

 

[eclipsoul]

i often daydream when i'm bored and don't want to spend too much time in front of a screen, but only when i don't have anything else to do and when i don't have a headache. most of my daydreams are the different events from one longer plot, they involve me but only to some extent. i mean i have a whole daydream life going on in my head but it's not really me, i made a whole new character for myself in my mind. i will not go into detail on what exactly goes on in my daydream life because it will sound like a poorly written fanfiction made by 12 year old but let me say that i am not acting it out by any means because i don't have a chance to and if i had one then i would end up with a restraining order i never knew there was such a thing as maladaptive daydreaming but for me my daydreaming doesn't bother me in doing any tasks and it's not happening 24/7 so i don't think it's the case for me

 

[Mayday]

i often daydream when i'm bored and don't want to spend too much time in front of a screen, but only when i don't have anything else to do and when i don't have a headache. most of my daydreams are the different events from one longer plot, they involve me but only to some extent. i mean i have a whole daydream life going on in my head but it's not really me, i made a whole new character for myself in my mind. i will not go into detail on what exactly goes on in my daydream life because it will sound like a poorly written fanfiction made by 12 year old but let me say that i am not acting it out by any means because i don't have a chance to and if i had one then i would end up with a restraining order i never knew there was such a thing as maladaptive daydreaming but for me my daydreaming doesn't bother me in doing any tasks and it's not happening 24/7 so i don't think it's the case for me

This still sounds like MD

bc not all people with MD act it out, and it doesn't seem to get in the way of most people's lives. it only gets into the way later on whe it gets worse over time.

i think the major red flag was the "longer plot" thing as well as the "i have a whole daydream life". most people have short daydreams and never think of it again.

 

[hAJIMAAAA]

i thought maladaptive daydreaming was only when it actively interferes with normal functions and social life, hence the maladaptive part. I would say i used to have MD when i was younger, combined with ADD. Unless a class or something was excessively interesting and caught my attention from the get-go i had an excessively hard time focusing, severely affected my grades and my life for a long time and my parents never cared about the fact that i had issues and just thought i was being lazy but i genuinely tried my best and tried so many workarounds just for none of them to ever work.

It even happened with readings, movies, series, tv, anime, videos, etc even conversations that i enjoyed or was decently interested in but i constantly had to rewind/ask because my mind went elsewhere or i just didn't understand because i was thinking about something else related to it, and then when i try to understand my head focuses on it and in that attempt to understand i end up missing a lot of stuff and understanding even less. I explored worlds of my own but often if i was interested in what they were talking about that only made me more prone to daydream about it, asking questions to myself and exploring possibilities within that and making up stories in regards to that. So if it was uninteresting i couldn't focus, and if it was too interesting i could focus even less.

Still happens with media ocassionally but when it comes to class and more important stuff and the such unless the prof is absolutely horrid it's not that bad, mainly because i have become mostly self-taught and i always know things ahead of time hehehehe but yeah. I'm just bad with academic learning overall lol. Games are the one thing that keeps me from this most of the time, or stories that make me think actively, classes where i feel i can participate. Essentially i need a very active experience to pay attention, i need my brain to focus and think consantly. Plus, in a bad state of mind my daydreaming/overthinking would turn to very bad things so i'd desperately need something that can keep my focus.

I don't act things out nowadays unless on purpose but i think all the other things applied/even now apply to a certain extent.

Regardless, i have learnt to use my daydreaming and focus it towards certain themes/objectives/stories to turn it into a main source for my writing/my arts overall so it's extremely helpful.

 

[Mayday]

i thought maladaptive daydreaming was only when it actively interferes with normal functions and social life, hence the maladaptive part. I would say i used to have MD when i was younger, combined with ADD. Unless a class or something was excessively interesting and caught my attention from the get-go i had an excessively hard time focusing, severely affected my grades and my life for a long time and my parents never cared about the fact that i had issues and just thought i was being lazy but i genuinely tried my best and tried so many workarounds just for none of them to ever work.

It even happened with readings, movies, series, tv, anime, videos, etc even conversations that i enjoyed or was decently interested in but i constantly had to rewind/ask because my mind went elsewhere or i just didn't understand because i was thinking about something else related to it, and then when i try to understand my head focuses on it and in that attempt to understand i end up missing a lot of stuff and understanding even less. I explored worlds of my own but often if i was interested in what they were talking about that only made me more prone to daydream about it, asking questions to myself and exploring possibilities within that and making up stories in regards to that. So if it was uninteresting i couldn't focus, and if it was too interesting i could focus even less.

Still happens with media ocassionally but when it comes to class and more important stuff and the such unless the prof is absolutely horrid it's not that bad, mainly because i have become mostly self-taught and i always know things ahead of time hehehehe but yeah. I'm just bad with academic learning overall lol. Games are the one thing that keeps me from this most of the time, or stories that make me think actively, classes where i feel i can participate. Essentially i need a very active experience to pay attention, i need my brain to focus and think consantly. Plus, in a bad state of mind my daydreaming/overthinking would turn to very bad things so i'd desperately need something that can keep my focus.

I don't act things out nowadays unless on purpose but i think all the other things applied/even now apply to a certain extent.

Regardless, i have learnt to use my daydreaming and focus it towards certain themes/objectives/stories to turn it into a main source for my writing/my arts overall so it's extremely helpful.

The term 'maladaptive daydreaming' is an outdated term to be fair. They haven't actually done any serious studies on it since I believe the early 2000's. A more proper term I've seen used is a daydreaming addiction, and even that term is a bit iffy. If they actually do more studies I'm sure they would coin a new term.

Another thing to note is that it doesn't seem harmful, but it is. Many people with MD don't realize that it's harming them or interfering with their life. For example, being forgetful or dissociating often. MD in general is just when people get so immersed into their daydreams that it distracts them from reality more than normal, it doesn't necessarily have to impact someone to an extreme degree. In the long run, MD will always negatively affect someone as longing for something that will never happen can damage your mental health.

I'm really happy you were able to manage your MD. I'm working on it and it's hard but I believe I've made progress! There are no known cures or official treatments but people have reported to be able to manage it so I'm hoping it leaves my life completely.


edit: i also want to point out that MD never starts out as negatively impacting anyone's life. It starts out small and innocent, then it gets worse as with every condition. It doesn't actually get noticeably 'maladaptive" until the condition worsens which is another reason why I think there needs to be more studies done on it. it isnt even considered a disorder yet.

 

[Mayday]

i thought maladaptive daydreaming was only when it actively interferes with normal functions and social life, hence the maladaptive part. I would say i used to have MD when i was younger, combined with ADD. Unless a class or something was excessively interesting and caught my attention from the get-go i had an excessively hard time focusing, severely affected my grades and my life for a long time and my parents never cared about the fact that i had issues and just thought i was being lazy but i genuinely tried my best and tried so many workarounds just for none of them to ever work.

Yeah MD is really common for us with OCD or ADD/ADHD unfortunately

I've been called crazy so many times for mumbling to myself or acting out my daydreams, parents really don't get it.

 

[Tickita]

I think, then I stop focusing on whatever I was doing