Wild Minds network
Maladaptive Daydreaming: where wild minds come to rest
Peculiar images and voices... does anyone else experience this?
1. It happens a lot when I'm doing something mundane, like putting on my makeup in the morning. Out of nowhere, people start talking, music starts playing, and images appear. Most of the time, it's a movie, TV show, or commercial I've seen or a piece of music I've heard, and it automatically is played in my head, like I had it recorded. It's not something I consciously do—it just starts on its own and I often don't notice until I realize how weird it is. It's very much like a typical daydream, except I don't really control what I see or hear. And I don't actually "hear" or "see" anything—just like a daydream. But it's most certainly not a daydream. I think almost everyone can relate to having music "stuck" in their head. It's just like that, except it's not always music, and doing something monotonous seems to trigger it, like my brain is entertaining itself, lol.
2. Sometimes I enter an ambiguous, sort of "half-daydream" mode. I don't know how else to explain it. It usually happens when I'm doing other things, but I want to daydream too, so whenever I get a chance to be alone, even if it's for a few seconds, I interact with my characters, but we don't actually say anything real. I glance over at them, smile, and laugh. When we "talk", it's like garbled speech. They say something garbled, and I say something garbled back. I have no idea what we're talking about. I can do this in my head too, and not just by acting it out.
3. This one may not be related to MD at all, because I know one of my sister experiences something like this, and she doesn't have MD. I think it only happens when I'm tired. When I close my eyes, random images appear, sometimes accompanied by sound, although like #1, I can't actually "see" or "hear" anything. What I see usually makes no sense at all. Sometimes I have no idea what it is. Sometimes it's startling or utterly grotesque, like a monster or a distorted face. I've had the same thing happen when I had my eyes open, too, and the room was completely dark.
Well, I hope I made at least a bit of sense, lol. Can anybody relate?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Eretaia on
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Number 3 is fairly normal if you're mentally exhausted. It happens to me when I'm about to fall asleep and really tired. I hear random dialogues in my hear or see weird images and I literally lose control over my train of thoughts. As much as it sounds odd or frightening, it is normal and nothing to worry about. It's probably related to alpha brainwaves and it's caused by tiredness or sleep deprivation or stress.
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Permalink Reply by M Hunter on
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#3 sounds like hypnagogic hallucinations. They usually occur just before or after you sleep. It can be like swirls of colour or sounds and voices. If you are really tired then that could be why they are occurring.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the other two to be honest.
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No, they are not hypnagogic hallucinations. They are classical racing thoughts which occur as you approach alpha brainwaves and at this point, you're still awake and can tell that voices or images are fully inside your head. This is quite common when people have fever because of the exhaustion. Hypnagogic hallucinations, on the other side, occur when you're neither awake nor asleep and you think that what you're experiencing is real before suddenly going fully awake. Happened to me once, and heck, it was scary as hell because I actually heard the voice saying totally evil stuff to me, hahah. Luckily, I knew that it was a hypnagogic hallucination and that it was quite normal, otherwise I would've been traumatized for the rest of my life, hahah.
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Ah okay. Fair enough. You have a lot of knowledge when it comes to brainwaves lol.
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Permalink Reply by Paracosm on
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I'm not worried about these things at all... I was just curious to know if anyone else had similar experiences. I guess I'm just trying to understand my brain, lol.
I don't think I'm experiencing hallucinations, and most of the time I don't freak out over it, although one time when I was going to bed, I turned out the light, and as I was getting in bed, I saw a zombie-like figure and it scared the life out of me. I was so freaked out that I turned the light on again, but I knew it wasn't real.
It could be because I'm tired. Usually, when it happens, if I allowed myself, I would fall asleep. Like Eretaia said, it's like I lose control of my thoughts and I see things, hear things, and think about doing things that don't make sense at all. But it couldn't be a hallucination because it's obvious that it's not "real". The only time I've ever had a hallucination was a while back when I woke up all of a sudden and saw my bedroom door close, when in fact, it had been closed the entire time. Sorta freaky, lol.
@M Hunter - Sorry I couldn't explain #1 and #2 better. To be honest, I don't understand myself half the time anyway, lol.
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Permalink Reply by Dusty on
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I think I've had a similar experience to #1 but it happens fairly rarely (maybe once a month). Like I'll get something stuck in my head that isn't a song. Sometimes a word or a short phrase or sentence but never as elaborate as a commercial.
Hypnogogia happens all the time when falling asleep and other times when very tired.
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I experience similar things quite frequently.
#1 is usually sounds more than anything else, and I don't usually notice until it feels like someone is yelling directly into my ear, though, like you say, I'm not actually "hearing" anything and I'm very aware that it's only in my head, but sometimes it takes me by such surprise that I actually turn my head to look for the source before registering that it was simply a "loud" thought.
Generally for #2 there isn't any conversation involving me happening, it's like I'm listening to background characters have a conversation without me, though there aren't any real words being used.
And with #3 it's the same as everyone else, where it occurs when I'm really tired or as I'm going to bed.
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Permalink Reply by dream lover on
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#1 happens all the time......i dont think it is weird though. Usually when i see a good film or song video etc i used to daydream about it first....if i didnt get a chance to DD,when i do something boring parts of the show replays itself in my mind.its not like a daydream but more like seeing tv with very sleepy eyes(not a perfect example)....it happens a lot now since i dont consciously DD anymore(i try to stop when i notice i am DDing) .in fact i am experiencing a thing like this right now(scenes from "the immortals") .its harder to stop..... seems like it got stuck in my head.
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Permalink Reply by Robin on
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Number 1: Same thing with me! This started happening a lot when I cut down on my daydreaming. Are you trying to quit? Maybe it's really your brain, which is used to constantly creating stimuli, trying to keep doing it even when you're forcing yourself not to DD. Anyway, that's what I think is happening to me. Dunno about 2 and 3, though.
Good luck!
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Sometimes I had #1 last semester. It was usually when I felt overstimulated by stress, my roommates, music, etc. I also used to be much more active and enthusiastic as a child. Now I am more calm and quiet. I was trying to get back to my happy randomness by doing #1. It felt unnatural so I stopped. I do #2 mostly between classes or when I don't have a lot of time to daydream.
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It's interesting to see that there are other people here who can relate. :)
@Robin Leiter - No, I haven't been trying to quit daydreaming. I tend to think #1 is because my brain just HAS to be doing something. I've always complained of boredom ever since I was really little and everyone laughed at me, but honestly, having NOTHING going on inside my brain is enough to make me think I'm going to go mad. If there's nothing better to do, I'll often resort to drawing imaginary lines on the walls and objects in the room to create convex polygons in the most efficient way possible, or imagining how objects could be rearranged to create symmetry. I do this without even realizing. I easily see the patterns in the physical world and this helps me a lot artistically. I think my brain just has to be kept active, and I think that's why I have such a difficult time with daydreaming. Normal, monotonous activities just aren't enough for me.
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Permalink Reply by Lee Kaufman on
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I can relate to both #1 & 2, though not exactly in the ways you've described them. As far as #1 goes I understand and relate to the part of not being in control and your mind just sort of doing its own thing. Most of daydreams are not controlled. They simply occur and progress however they want. I generally don't have an input. Also, monotonous tasks tend to trigger my dreams as well.
For #2 I don't have "half-daydreams" often, but they do occur and blend reality with my dream world. When this happens I can usually watch something happening seemingly before my eyes, only to realize that it was just a dream blending the lines of reality and dream together. This has been happening progressively more often and mostly with birds when they're walking around in front of me.
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