MD: Like an addiction, indeed.

[Jessy]

Let me introduce myself as Jessy. I have had MD ever since I was about six years old, when it all began with the likes of cheesy Hollywood movies, Sailormoon, and Power Rangers. I am not one who would imagine it all inside the head only - I would always act out my daydreams, incorporate every gesture and move I make into what I would experience in them. To do this I always paced, ran, jumped, and even voiced all of my characters and made sound effects. All of this had always made daydreaming such an enthralling experience that I could not resist for more.

 

Even though I have learnt of this thing called the Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder for about a year now, I still continue to pace, run, jump and talk at all the same time to act out my daydreams. I have got into a stage where I should have outgrown all of this, considering my pathway to the real world - but I am such a child and cannot just forgo the pleasure that daydreaming gives me. I have pinpointed the problem of not curbing my daydreaming is my need to move a lot, hence I pace, jump, et cetera. I cannot simply rely on the mind alone to daydream. To have such an active body to incorporate into it is as addictive as it is. Outings and sports have proven to be helpful, but they do not successfully combat the evocativeness of my daydreams in the long run.

 

That being said, what I need at this moment is a little bit of motivation every now and then, so that I can lessen the amount of time spent daydreaming and be more actively involved with the surroundings. I know very well that is a goal itself for me to accomplish. I should muster up enough willingness to take control of my daydreaming, and especially my compulsive desire to move along with it. This is the main issue I have always had with MD, always having to pace and all that. I must admit I am slightly envious that you only need to do it less severely, such as rocking and holding something in your hand. Compared to me, who always runs back and forth repeatedly and vigorously, jumping up and down and over again, and altering my voice in all kinds of volumes, you could easily guess who was the saner one.

 

I am glad to know I am not alone in this. While it is nice to have your own little world to retreat to from the harsh realities of life, at the same time it can become an addiction that you sometimes have no control over. It is frustrating to know that and yet still continue to do nothing about it. I will need to have the right time to start curbing my daydreams; I find my desire to daydream is too great to put aside for now.

 

I have attributed my MD to a number of factors which I am certain you may be familiar with - such as being introverted, socially inept (or isolation), having cynical views of the world, dissociation, or just the spark of imagination in general. Additionally, I am also deaf with a speech impairment, having attended mainstream schools, and so I resorted to MD out of isolation many times.

 

While pacing (or the likes) seems to be a common thing to do for people with MD, I am curious as to whether or not you feel the desire to move along with your daydreams as strongly as I do, because that is what has been hindering me from successfully curbing my daydreams all along.

[J Noland]

I really had to start deciding that it was not a good time to dd. It also depends on how I'm treating myself in the real world. If I was in a bad relationship I would dd to avoid it, bad job- dd to forget about it. I don't think being very active in your dds is a bad thing if you can keep it at a level you are happy with. I can dd at work with people around me, if I accidentally make a noise I pretend to be humming a song or start talking to who ever is around, Hey Bill are you still training for that marathon? You sound like you are very intelligent and I hope you aren't being too hard on yourself for the active movements. My control over the severity of my dds came with maturity and actually scheduling time when I could dd my heart out. I sometimes slack off and allow myself to overindulge but for the most part I'm trained to deeply dd only when there's nothing else more important. Just like some people play video games too much, you have to set limits for yourself. It's what you really want to do, to be in control of the dds. Just give it some time and patience, be a bit firm with yourself but not mean. Practice stopping for just 10 minutes, fold some laundry or something "real world" then have a bit more dd time. These are just suggestions, I'm just a fellow dder hoping to help!

[debbie downer]

i say that i pace, but when i say that i usually mean a combination of walking and running. xD i never realize how fast i'm pacing until i'm pacing downstairs when my mom is taking a nap upstairs and she yells "stop running back and forth, you're shaking the whole house!". but today when i was pacing i realized that i was just walking back and forth, no running. i think how i pace depends on the emotion of the daydream that i'm daydreaming about. if it's a sad part, i actually prefer to be lying down in my bed or on the couch, which is why i don't have trouble sleeping at night like a lot of MDers- when i'm lying down i can only daydream about more... relaxed (that's not the right word but it's the best way i can describe it) parts of my daydream. if it's a happy or funny part, i'll pace and sometimes find myself running. o_0 at school i daydream and i don't need to pace or lie down, and i don't know why. but when i daydream at school it can be any part of the daydream- happy, sad, angry, funny... i can daydream about it. it's weird. xD when i pace, i pace to music, but i can't listen to music when i lie down or else i have a hard time concentrating on the daydream. i realized recently that when i pace, i sometimes mouth the lyrics to the song that i'm listening to. o:  i don't think that i move along with my daydreams as much as you do, but i think that what you described is the closest to what i do than what anyone else on this website has said that they do while the daydream.

[TheDreamer]

No, in my case what gives the 'Beat' to daydreaming is music not pacing or moving etc. If the music is fast i will daydream faster and make plots and create imaginary societies much faster. The music becomes therefore in the further parts of the dream part of the dream itself. There i may eventually scream or shout due to emotions of the dream, but i can hear the Voices in my head i dont need to make them with my own mouth.