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Maladaptive Daydreaming: where wild minds come to rest

IQ and MD.

Hey, I was wondering if there was a link between MD and IQ. Since I'm always looking up things about psychology, I looked up characteristics that are often associated with having a high IQ. I've never taken an IQ test and the one I did only had 10 questions which I got a 9/10 on but still I don't think a small online test like that can really tell me my IQ. Anyways, I was looking at characteristics of "gifted" or people with high IQs. And I found that a lot of the characteristics applied to me or many of you guys. LIke for example Intelligent people have a higher curiosity, are sometimes socially awkward, have problems with anxiety, low moods, depression, are creative, and they have a vivid imagination. Many are also likely to be atheists And I'm not an atheist although I have questioned my religion before but I've met many individuals here that are. So What do you think, do you think our "disorder" is linked to having a brighter IQ?

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Comment by Tila on March 24, 2013 at 12:28pm: @Atrocious_B I think you missed my point a little bit. I am not claiming that right-brained thinking (mainly creativity) is less intelligent than left-brained thinking. They are just so different and make equally important contributions....I think it is impossible to compare the two. I think that just like quantitative reasoning, creativity is just ONE part of the multidimensional (and mostly immeasurable) abstraction that is a person's intelligence.

There are plenty of people who are not very bright who are most skilled at using logic. The same goes for very average people who are best at creativity. My point is that a person's preferred or most natural skill set doesn't correlate to their intelligence.

My verdict: MDers are no more intelligent than any other group. Maybe more creative though.

Comment by Paracosm on March 23, 2013 at 6:29pm: I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I tend to think that most, if not all, the people in my family are highly creative, which supposedly is an indicator of high IQ. We all have different Myers-Briggs personalities, and yet we all tend to be very perfectionistic, detail-oriented, ambitious, imaginative, and determined to do our very best in everything we do. We matured very quickly and didn't relate well to other children our age. Most people probably see us as really quirky people with peculiar interests. We often feel like outsiders when we're around "normal" people. Our neighbors can't figure us out, lol.

Most of us are rather socially awkward, but that's probably due to the fact that we've been isolated for most of our lives. My parents are Christian, and I share their beliefs, but I admit I'm not a reborn Christian. I'm very inquisitive, and I like to understand how things work and why things are the way they are. I ask a lot of questions. I like my mind to be kept active, and as a child, this came out in my complaining about boredom. I developed strange habits to keep my mind busy, including daydreaming.

By the way, my brother has MD too, although I don't think it has become a replacement for reality as it has for me. I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of my other siblings had MD and just hadn't ever said so.

Comment by LostSoul99 on March 22, 2013 at 7:30pm: @Roshomoneffect, yes Serial killers/Psychopaths may possess some of these attributes. You have a point but they also have high IQs and they certainly don't feel empathy the way us MDers do. I guess you're right. But I do think many of us are talented or gifted in some way or the other. We are thinkers, we're curious and creative and the faster we embrace it the better. And I think it's safe to think that some of us, possessing the above traits might actually have high IQs or be gifted. I don't know but these are just my thoughts.

Comment by LostSoul99 on March 22, 2013 at 7:19pm: @Tila, most definitely. You definitely don't have to be intelligent to be a daydreamer because creativity comes from the right side of the brain, and most people that are successful at sciences and mathematics that are considered intelligent are left-brained. But I do think some of us may be gifted or highly intelligent because a lot of us do have these traits.

Comment by Tila on March 22, 2013 at 4:58pm: If you believe that creativity is one form of intelligence, then there is definitely a connection with MD. I think that a vivid imagination and some hangup with being ourselves outwardly is what connects all of us.

There are plenty of unimaginative, seemingly apathetic people who don't sound perceptive at all, based on what they write. So I don't think you have to be intelligent to be a daydreamer.

Comment by Pascale on March 22, 2013 at 1:28am: I guess anything that makes us social outsider makes more prone to DD. Being serial killer or paedophile is perhaps just another strategy to cope with the same problem. We are the good people who just choose not to harm other, just "go away to DW".

I learned to DD at school. I was among the best in the class and I didn’t like it. So I just step out in my DW and could follow the class just by using a minimum attention. I didn't bother anybody so everybody was happy. I didn't take any serious IQ test but being among the best in the class is just an indication to high IQ. Having so many questions than nobody seems to care over was surely a good reason to look for another world with more interesting people.

I am a convinced Christian, but I get it by asking questions, not by believing what other persons tell me what is right. But it has been a hard job to find people taking my questions seriously.

So yes, high IQ can be a cause to MD, (trauma is another). But if being a social outsider can start DD, MD keep us definitely outside. I see MD like a cooping strategy. It’s just a bad strategy that keeps you in what you wish to avoid.