Hello, I've just joined and found this network, as I recently heard about maladaptive daydreaming think it sounds a bit like me! I often talk or whisper outloud to myself and gesticulate along with my thoughts - sometimes this happens in public and sometimes I'll disappear into a scene in the middle of conversations with people too, which isn't great. It doesn't feel conscious or deliberate either - I just snap in and out of it all the time without thinking about it.  I've done this for as long as I can remember, and I've never been sure if it's a problem or not - sometimes it feels like creatively imagining future scenarios or events and this can be quite useful and positive, and then on the other side it can involve vividly re-enacting or playing back events I feel ashamed of in some way, and that's much more negative and can end up ruminating over things unhelpfully. Occasionally I do some quite weird involuntary movements or shake my head randomly too, I think to subconsciously try and knock these negative thoughts away - this can look a bit odd or unnerving for others if it happens in public, and is easier for me to see these moments as a sign that something's not quite right. I'm usually able to pass it off and joke about it with people though, and haven't until recently thought it's been much of a problem in my life - I think previously I'd seen it as quite a funny kind of quirk in my character or something like this. But I'm getting more aware of it as I get older, and realising that it maybe isn't that healthy or a bit of an abnormal trait. Particularly I worry it might be something that gets in the way of long-term relationships with people for me, and I'd be keen to learn how to manage it better if possible. It's been interesting reading people's posts here and some of the comments that it might be a kind of addiction or a means of escaping reality in some way. I find it quite hard to know if that's the case with me really as it's so unconscious, but it's good to have found somewhere like this to help think it through with others.