I will die on this hill

[Yukia]

Reading some of the old comments here, saw "Life without maladaptive daydreaming would be boring".

So glamorizing. Just like finding other clinical disorders like anxiety and depression "quirky", nonsense. Makes me question whether people who say that actually have it.

[Yukia]

Good to hear you're not an MD anymore. ID shares certain symptoms with MD though, like poor emotional regulation and recognition. Unless I misunderstood, and you meant healthy daydreaming, not immersive?

This illusive, fearsome thought of "giving up your imagination" is fabricated entirely by your own brain. That's how it tricks you into generating more dopamine to get an instantaneous reward, which is the only reward it cares about, proven by how easily it orders you to dismiss your long-term goals.

[farrahfawn]

well it's addictive so I feel like that statement is more of a reflection of those feelings; but the thought of giving up your imagination itself seems cruel and unusual, & in the middle of the maladaptive aspect of it it was hard for me personally to imagine life without it. so I had to find a way to make it "adaptive" so to speak instead of taking over my life. so I guess now I'd just be called an immersive daydreamer (going off the last comment). 

[Yukia]

Hiya Mils and thanks for commenting.

I was actually reading a research today and found out that there's a subgroup among maladaptive daydreamers called IMers (immersive daydreamers). In short it's people who aren't suffering from negative effects of maladaptive daydreaming. It dawned on me that perhaps some people on this forum are like that.

I disagree with that statement generally and only if an adult makes it. I also remember being on the fence about it, "it's objectively bad but also makes me feel good" kind of coping. In the end that mindset suppresses your instinct to fight back and get your life together. I can't really see any point there.

[Mils]

Sometimes saying that could be a way of coping with it, trying to make the situation better or easier to process. I see where you're coming from tho, since those kind of comments are frequent on social media, and irl sometimes. But I think the difference is that with MD, it does make life more interesting, even if it means divulging in a life that isn't real, which isn't a good thing. That's the point of it for some people :)