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Post by emiros on Feb 13, 2019 6:10:28 GMT
I'm 22 years old and I've honestly only just found out about Maladaptive Daydreaming...never knew it was an actual thing. This is my first time speaking about this with anyone. I'm not quite sure when it started..perhaps in my freshman or sophomore year of high school? It was never the same characters or scenarios. When I first began doing it the scenarios usually involved some of my friends or my significant other(s) at the time but now the scenarios are of a totally different life with a totally different person as my 'main character'. Whether I'm sitting down, laying down, or jogging/walking, I always end up going back to my daydreams. I usually do it when I'm jogging or walking (I do both every day) as the dreams feel a lot more vivid when I'm moving. I've realized that these daydreams start whenever my mind isn't focused on something that I'm particularly interested in. I can't quite remember how often it's happened in the past but, at the moment, it feels like it takes over so much of my day. I continuously think about it. If my mind isn't on something important than my thoughts often go right back to daydreaming. Sometimes even certain conversations will get me to think about it. It kind of helps me feel relaxed/content if that makes any sense at all? I don't know..it almost feels like an addiction. I do have chronic depression so I'm not quite sure if that's connected in some way but, honestly, I feel embarrassed. I feel like a total weirdo thinkng about the fact that I do this so often and that it's been happening for quite some time now. It always seems to find a way to distract the task(s) that I'm working on. Sorry for this long post, I needed to vent all of this out as this is my first time finding a place like this where I can talk about the daydreaming without worrying about others not understanding a single word.
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Post by alvi on Feb 13, 2019 18:32:48 GMT
Hi, Welcome to daydream in blue. A lot of people here suffer with depression or other mental health conditions so you are not alone. Hopefully you will find others here that can offer their help and support to you.
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Post by Sam on Feb 13, 2019 22:42:03 GMT
Technically speaking, I think it could be classified as an addiction. It works in much the same way as traditional addictions to, say, alcohol or drugs. The disadvantage is that daydreaming is always available and its not rational to expect yourself to just cut out daydreaming completely. Daydreaming is a normal occurrence that, in this case, has become maladaptive and harmful. So you can't really detox from it or restrict it in the same way you can with actually physical addictive substances. The Daydream Less Challenge on the @/beyonddaydreaming Instagram page talks about daydreaming as an addiction. You might want to check it out to see if that sort of explanation fits with your experience.
As for the depression, a lot of (maybe even most of) maladaptive daydreamers have co-occurring mental health disorders. Personally, I think that a lot of the time, daydreaming is a coping method for dealing with those other mental health problems, however, sometimes people develop those problems in response to their daydreaming becoming maladaptive.
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Post by Dimmer on Feb 14, 2019 15:53:47 GMT
Welcome to the forum!
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