Wild Minds network

Maladaptive Daydreaming: where wild minds come to rest

I think MD is getting me down - can anyone relate?

Hi,

I'm Catherine and I'm new here! Thanks for having me, so wonderful to see a support network here.

I have been a MD for as long as I can remember. I used to literally spend hours in my bedroom as a child just 'thinking' and used to get really annoyed when I was interrupted. I usually took fictional characters and came up with my own stories about them - mental fanfiction, if you like.

MD brought me a lot of joy when I was a child, but now I am an adult (28 years old), I think it's actually starting to get me down a bit.

In my head, I am seeing perfect people in perfect scenarios, and I think it's making the real world seem more and more dissatisfactory and pointless. However, I am wondering if maybe I was feeling depressed anyway and MD is my coping mechanism. It's a bit like chicken and egg, I am not sure what is coming first, or if they are just feeding into one another.

Very strange how it's gone from causing me so much joy to now (apparently) making me feel a bit down and lonely.

I am very set on cutting down on MD (I think eliminating completely would be erasing a big part of myself) and making it something that I set time aside for each day for like 30 mins or something, and see how that goes.

Does anyone else find MD makes them a bit low? And has anyone else thought it might be time to reduce MD time?

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Permalink Reply by Shane on November 21, 2021 at 6:03pm

I feel where you're coming from. I'm also 28, have been caught up in MD all my life, and have diagnosed anxiety and depression. MD is most distressing for me if I'm in public or around people and someone snaps me out of it. I've been practicing whispering to myself "don't retreat" when I notice it happening in public and it greatly increases how comfortable I am in these situations when I'm more mentally present.

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Permalink Reply by Catherine S on November 25, 2021 at 2:09pm

Yeah, I know what you mean about being in public and feeling like people are 'snapping' you out of it, almost. That's a really good technique, I might have to try it. Thanks for replying.

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Permalink Reply by Valeria Franco on November 25, 2021 at 11:07am

Well, MD is a disorder, not just daydreaming.

So here people usually question about how to reduce daydreaming, not if deleting it.

If it was just a matter of daydreaming a little bit too much, then it's not maladaptive and we should just talk about "daydreaming" or "fantasising", and not MD.

When it becomes a real disorder, then we should definitely find a way to stop daydreaming, which unluckily doesn't happen just because we want to, but because we work on ourselves, go to therapy, change our life.

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Permalink Reply by Catherine S on November 25, 2021 at 2:10pm

Yes, I definitely feel it is disordered with me, like an addition almost that I find difficult to control. I went through a spell last year where I did not daydream in a disordered way AT ALL, so I know I am capable of it. But yes, it's something I am set on working on. Thanks for your reply.