Have you seen people lost in themselves for hours and hours, unbothered by what is happening in the environment? Do you wonder why they act like they are living a life in a world of their own and are completely dissociated from the present world most of the time? Do you wish to know what is happening in their minds? Well, they are victims of maladaptive daydreaming.

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a syndrome in which people think about imaginary things, stories, and feelings for hours on end, and they often use stereotypical moves and music to help them stay in their dreamlike state.

Even though MD is not officially accepted as a mental illness yet, more and more studies are showing how important it is in clinical settings. MD has been linked to several mental illnesses, such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Recently, MD has been suggested as a type of behavioral addiction because it is so satisfying and the person has to do it over and over again to avoid the bad effects of MD. In the same way, it has been linked to other harmful habits, like using social networking sites in a bad way.

Difference between Normal and Maladaptive Daydreaming

MD is not the same as normal daydreaming or mind-wandering, which is a general term for thinking about something other than what you are doing. Most of the time, daydreaming or mind-wandering is an unplanned break from a current job to think about the past or the future, like remembering something or making a list of things to do for the rest of the day. Mind-wandering symptoms that people report include not being able to focus or pay attention, having a scattered line of thought, making mistakes because of natural behavior, and not being aware of what is going on around them. Instead, MD is marked by making up stories and plots full of rich, magical details and a wide range of emotions. These stories and plots are often unrealistic and unrelated to the daydreamer’s real life. In addition, they generally change over an extended period, like a soap show. This is very different from common mind-wandering, whose content changes all the time. In MD, people feel driven to keep living their dream, similar to how many people feel when they watch their favorite TV show. A lot of people say that they start an MD episode on purpose and with awareness.

According to empirical evidence, MD is very different from normal thinking in terms of how much, what, how often, how hard it is to control, how much it hurts, and how much it gets in the way of living a normal life. Moreover, maladaptive daydreamers have much higher rates of attention deficit, obsessive-compulsive, and separation symptoms than controls.

Characteristics of Maladaptive Daydreaming

Researchers suggest that this addictive daydreaming is not helpful as it takes up a lot of time, makes you feel bad about yourself or guilty, gets in the way of completing short- and long-term chores or goals, and generally causes clinically significant distress and makes it hard to function in social or work settings. Maladaptive daydreamers say they have a strong drive to daydream whenever they can and are irritated when they cannot. They also say they have tried many times but failed to control, cut back on, or stop daydreaming, just like people who are addicted to other behaviors. After their daily thinking, they feel bad feelings. However mental health professionals often make fun of their condition, which leads to poor care and more loneliness and stress.

MD is a compulsive disorder in which people make up stories that do not happen, which causes a lot of stress and problems in many areas of their lives. The fake situations never end and are started by sound, pictures, and speech. From a neurobiological point of view, the thinking processes connected to this state start in the brain’s default mode network. MD helps people be creative, think about the future, and become more self-aware, but it also makes it hard to fully participate in daily activities by causing performance problems and being distracting. Psychodynamically, people who think too much have an attachment style called “ambivalent-fearful.” In some cases, this disease can show up as idolizing celebrities and changing the truth. Additionally, this particular kind of compulsivity has been newly designated as the main psychopathological trait of addictive mental diseases (PSNSU). There is proof that behavioral habits are linked to not being able to control your emotions well, which can happen after bad things have happened to a person as a child, like being abused or neglected. According to the model of compensatory internet use, people who are more likely to become dependent may develop addictive-like symptoms (e.g., PSNSU) as a way to deal with the bad feelings that come with having psychological problems or not meeting their real-life needs. In the same way, there is proof that people who have trouble controlling their emotions are more likely to use MD and other unhealthy ways of dealing.

Treatment of Maladaptive Daydreaming

A lot of maladaptive daydreamers on the Internet sites say they have gone to see a mental health professional for help, but most of them had never heard of the symptoms and seemed to play them down. Some people have been given a wide range of illnesses, such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This is not a surprise since MD is not a recognized mental illness and mental health workers do not use the term very often. Some disorders, like ADHD, have been linked to “normal” daydreaming along with other symptoms like not being able to focus or organize things. However, as of right now, no disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or any other system lists highly structured and absorbing daydream worlds as a main symptom.

Conclusion

In conclusion, MD is a serious condition that requires attention and proper treatment as the severity of its symptoms can lead to adverse consequences one of which is dissociation from the current world and excessive interference in daily life tasks. Unfortunately, MD is a clinical condition that is not getting enough attention. It causes distress, makes it hard to live a normal life, and needs more science and clinical attention.