Quitting and its Drawbacks

[Cyan]

I made a YouTube video at the beginning of my daydreaming "cleanse." I just quit right there and then. Awhile after that video was created, I went four days without daydreaming at all and I was very productive, but then after those four days I spent six days daydreaming a lot. 

I started writing in my journal again, and I quit daydreaming another time. It has been working great so far. I've kept my house clean and my homework has been taken care of. The only problem is my anxiety and irritability has been hindering my ability to be around people. I started yelling at people and crying...loud crying. Like, disturb the entire high school type of crying. I've been getting sent home early for it too many times. 

I also co-run a blog where sometimes we give advice and tell jokes about Maladaptive Daydreaming. Before I had quit, a person sent me an anonymous message saying that they quit daydreaming and had the strong urge to kill themself. I told this person to daydream if they have to get themselves through the day and to get professional help. This scared me. I didn't know what to do. 

I myself haven't been going through suicidal urges, but I know many people who quit go through a sort of withdrawal. What I'm trying to say is, get professional help when you quit daydreaming. I know many doctors don't believe in MDD, but you still need to get help even if you don't tell them about the daydreaming. There is a solution out there for people who want to quit, but doing it alone is not it. 

[Floris]

Day Dreaming is not something to quit cold turkey (everybody does it) but to do a bit more moderately. Because you do need it, it can be helpful to have the escape or even lead to productivity. Rather than see it as a disease it is better to use it as a strength. It's a hard one to channel because of all the chaos that can happen in your head but once you do find a fitting channel you know that quitting cold turkey is not the answer.

[Alta Morden]

Yes, this happens to me as well.  I have quit several times in my life, though I generally can manage less than a year.  But in my mind I liken to what I imagine some sort of drug withdrawal might be like.  My anxiety spikes, I feel as if I am bouncing off  the walls.  I do have some anti-anxiety medicine which I can take those days and it does help.  But the urge to daydream seems to be always there, even after having quit for months.  Never give up I guess.   But goodness, I agree with your advice to the person who felt suicidal, definitely better to MDD than that!

[Ivy White]

It sounds logical. If daydreaming serves as some sort of barrier, or coping mechanism, or installs some sort of smoke screen between what you actually feel and your mind, you get strange things when you take that away.