Maladaptive Daydreaming, A Surprising Mental Trap You Can Break Free From
The world is full of beauty. One can enjoy scenery, culture, and lifestyle, among other things. But the person is trapped in his imaginary world, dreaming of his world. The most shocking part is that these daydreams feel almost like movies in the mind. Movies with properly detailed characters, a wonderful plot, and well-written stories are almost like Christopher Nolan’s films. When these daydreams start interfering with real life, it becomes a problem. As it affects daily work, responsibilities, relationships, and studies. Therefore, maladaptive daydreaming can be considered a psychological condition.
Lost In Another World
Sixteen-year-old Rajesh sits in Mathematics class staring out of the window. In his mind, he is the superhero, the saviour of the earth, the mighty Superman’s copy. The ultimate superhero saves the school from the villains. Oh God! Isn’t this most of us crazy fantasy? Somewhat similar, Rajesh is the superhero of his own story. The villains are coming to harm his friends and teachers feel more real to him than a damn Circle theorem written on that classroom board. He isn’t alone; most of us young people have vivid imaginations. But for someone like Rajesh, these fantasies become consuming.
Maladaptive daydreaming: an obsessive immersion in daydreams.
Rajesh so often loses track of reality. During class, before sleep, he might replay those heroic scenes for a long time. Daydreams aren’t just random. They have complex plots, well-written characters, and addictiveness. Rajesh often tends to continue his fantasy, like many feel about watching their favorite TV shows, movies. People with maladaptive daydreaming feel their fantasy life is more real to them than their actual life. Rajesh has similar symptoms, frequently lost in another world, creating complex fantasy plots over and over again, losing track of reality. He is a famous superhero in his fantasy world, but nothing than a sixteen-year-old teenager in the actual world.
When Daydreaming Overwhelms Reality
Rajesh’s family, on the other hand, faces a different problem. He is constantly skipping meals because he is so-called “busy saving the world and being a superhero”. Similarly, he missed the homework, practical reports, and feels guilty and ashamed each time. According to a report published by the Cleveland Clinic, Maladaptive daydreamers commonly report “guilt and shame” when daydreaming disrupts other parts of life.
Maladaptive Daydreaming is addictive absorption that consumes many hours of a day, generates guilt and shame, hinders achievement and overall causes distress.
Rajesh’s grades suffer a lot. He often misses roll-call from his teachers, and begins to disconnect from the world around him. He would rather face 100 villains than face a math test. This detachment is nothing but a coping mechanism. When life suddenly starts to be tough, full of challenges, the mind protects itself from pain, stress, and loneliness. Even when real life often feels boring, a person escapes into daydreams, imagining great heroic moments like Rajesh, some good, perfect friendships, and exciting adventures. Which are nothing but a short, temporary pleasure for the mind. Maladaptive Daydreaming can serve as escapism, helping people from stress and anxiety.
Understanding The Hidden Disorder
Maladaptive Daydreaming isn’t in official manuals yet, but awareness is surely growing. According to a report published by the Cleveland Clinic, Maladaptive Daydreaming(MD) is most common in people with conditions that affect their mental health or certain types of brain functions. The conditions that are common with MD are:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Anxiety Disorders
- Certain types of depression
- Dissociative Disorders
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD)
Age can also be a factor for Maladaptive Daydreaming. MD is more common in young adults, especially teenagers. Normal daydreaming or fantasy is very common among people. But what sets MD apart is how it typically happens. Like Rajesh’s daydreams are intentional, cinematic, and purely emotional. His dreams consist of elaborate storylines and maybe some soundtracks running inside his head. Rajesh knows he is dreaming, but the urge to continue dreaming is very high. Typically, when we watch Game Of Thrones, the urge to binge-watch watch whole season is high.
Breaking The Bubble Of Daydreaming
The turning point in Rajesh’s life came when his parent took him to a therapist. The therapist carefully listened to all the problems Rajesh was facing in day-to-day life. She properly explained that the behaviour has a name, which was unheard of by Rajesh’s parents. Rajesh wasn’t just a “dreamy kid”. The therapist explained every detail of Maladaptive daydreaming, its causes, and especially the coping mechanism. A coping mechanism in case of MD is the brain’s way of dealing with emotion, pain, and stress. Especially, in the case of MD, coping is escaping into immersive fantasies and an imaginary world.
Every detail mentioned by the therapist aligned with Rajesh’s condition. Every day, care and support helped Rajesh a lot. He slowly began the process of breaking this bubble of daydreaming. Rajesh would list the time his daydreams start and end, and also list the triggers of daydreams, like sad songs, Insta reels, and short movie clips. The awareness, self-control, and constant care were essential to reduce daydreaming. Instead of using the phone and scrolling through reels, Rajesh did meditation, which helped him from all the mental stress, anxiety.
Strategies To Overcome Maladaptive Daydreaming
Strategies and support are key to breaking the bubble of daydreaming. Rajesh utilized the following strategies to battle against his Maladaptive Daydreaming.
- Professional Support: Talking with a therapist can be lifesaving. Rajesh’s parents were smart enough to see the change in their child and took him to a therapist. The therapist gave Rajesh and his parents a detailed explanation addressing the MD, causes, and methods to overcome it. Also, therapy can help address any anxiety, trauma, OCD, or any kind of Mental Disorders.
- Self-Monitoring: Like Rajesh, keeping track of daydream time and triggers can be essential. Being aware of how long and how often you daydream is necessary. It takes time, but eventually one can interrupt the habit of daydreaming.
- Limit Triggers: Noticing what sparks the daydreams is important. It can be any song, movies, or loneliness. Then, reducing the triggers during study time, or switching into different activities to pull yourself away from daydreams, is essential. Frequent social activities, playing physical sports, can drastically limit your triggers.
- Social Connection: Spending time with friends, playing different games, and trying exciting adventures builds a good social connection. This eventually helps from anxiety, stress, and loneliness. The leading triggers of Maladaptive Daydreaming are also controlled. Rajesh occupied his mind with real-world engagement, which reduced his empty hours of alone time that invited daydreams.
From Struggle To Strength
Months later, Rajesh’s grades recovered. He used his struggle and weakness to make it into his strength. Rajesh created a blogger account and started writing blogs. He shared his story among hundreds of people and inspired them. Maladaptive daydreaming was his weakness in the past. But by overcoming, it became his strength.
I wasn’t broken, I was just really creative.
This inspires us that one can turn weakness into their strength. By seeking help, raising awareness, and building social connections, everyone can overcome maladaptive daydreaming. Rajesh’s journey reminds us that even the deepest wound can be healed with proper time and support.
'Rajesh' mentioned in above article is a fictional character. And the story of Rajesh is fictional story.
For more articles from this author, visit: Utsab Bhandari