Could this be the Answer? The Cure?

[Ecstasy]

Hey there,

Do you experience the following symptoms when you are daydreaming/fantasizing???

Mania Symptoms

Mania symptoms may include excessive happiness, excitement, irritability, restlessness, increased energy, less need for sleep, racing thoughts, high sex drive, and a tendency to make grand and unattainable plans.

Depression Symptoms

Depression symptoms may include sadness, anxiety, irritability, loss of energy, uncontrollable crying, change in appetite causing weight loss or gain, increased need for sleep, difficulty making decisions, and thoughts of death or suicide.

Compulsive Daydreamers under go Rapid Cycling of the two. First Mania in the form of Daydreaming, followed by an episode of Depression minutes or seconds later . Then manic minutes or seconds after feeling depressed. and so on over and over again like a cycle ...

Ok, so i was researching into mental illnesses and came across one that runs in my family. I originally thought to be diagnosed with this illness you would have to be aggressive or violent. I was Wrong!!! All the symptoms of MD can be easily explained through this illness. 99% of all the accounts i have read that involve people treating MD with medication, and in some cases, being CURED from MD involve the exact medication required for this illness. Basically the symptoms i listed above are the exact symptoms of Bipolar type 1 and type 2. 

Do NOT be ignorant!!! Do NOT assume you are not Bipolar. Take a good look at the symptoms above and sit down and take a good look at the CONTENT of your daydreams. What do daydream about and how does it make you feel? Does it correlate with the symptoms of Mania as described above, excitement,  euphoria, irritability etc. When people say and do things you don't like in your daydreams, how do you respond? are you irritable towards them? 

I dream about Success which leads to extreme sexual dreams or dreams of revenge, anger/killing people. In my daydreams i am irritable,  powerful, rogue uncontrollable and occasionally heartless. I dream about making things right, correcting this awful world we live in.

My Theory is that people who experience Maladaptive Daydreaming are people who have had a low self-esteem or low confidence levels at some point in life. And at some point in life, went through period with very little social contact or struggled socially in some way. They do not have the confidence to express there Mania in any other way but to Daydream, and end up daydreaming compulsively as a result.

99% of all the accounts of people being treated or cured of daydreaming have involved EITHER: Anti-psychotics OR Anticonvulsants which are two types of drugs used to treat Bipolar amongst others. Anti-psychotics are the favourite for daydreaming for some reason.

However, you can guarantee that some people daydream compulsively - not because they are bipolar, but because of something else such as OCD. There seems to be atleast 4 possible reasons why someone would daydream compulsively.  These 4 reasons could be OCD, addiction, depression and Bipolar. But a vast majority of the evidence available so far points to Bipolar. My psychiatrist explained to me that my daydreaming CANNOT be OCD. I cant remember his reasons, i just remember that when he gave me his reasons agreed with 110% that it could not be OCD. However, OCD is a type of depression too. It could be an addiction, but can an addiction lead to Bipolar or be in the form of Bipolar?  Yes, it could be depression, however Bipolar is a type of depression and includes depression as one of the symptoms. What this means is that OCD Antidepressants combined with Bipolar medication should guarantee an end to our compulsive daydreaming for a majority of us. 

Your might need to try a few OCD Antidepressants to find one that works. Most need to try atleast two. You might have to try a few Antipsychotics to find one that works. And just because you experience side effects from a drug doesn't mean its affecting the section of the brain that it is suppose to affect. There are many different types of Antidepressants and many different types of Antipsychotics. You have to take the right type to have the desired affect. Taking the wrong type of Antidepressant/Antipsychotic may mean that you don't get relief from the illness. In Maladaptive daydreamers, most people from my research took preference to Abilify (Aripiprazole) used for Bipolar type 1 which is more Manic then Bipolar Type 2. Just because someone does not respond to an Antipsychotic in the desired way DOES NOT MEAN they are not Bipolar, it just means that they need to try a couple more Bipolar drugs, possibly one that is a different type to the one they were originally taking. I will try to post the links to my research in treating compulsive daydreaming. There are quite a few links -  about 30 .

http://www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/guide/bipolar-disorder-sympto...

Here are the symptoms of Bipolar taken from another website  -  the UK Government organization - the NHS

Beware there are subtle differences in the symptoms of Mania below, the important thing is that you fit majority of the symptoms. Remember your asking yourself if these symptoms are the symptoms you experience when you daydream Outside your daydreams it is likely you don't experience any of the symptoms because your Manic/daydream episode has come to an end.

Mania

The manic phase of bipolar disorder may include:

• feeling very happy, elated or overjoyed
• talking very quickly
• feeling full of energy
• feeling self-important
• feeling full of great new ideas and having important plans
• being easily distracted
• being easily irritated or agitated
• being delusional, having hallucinations and disturbed or illogical thinking
• not feeling like sleeping
• not eating
• doing things that often have disastrous consequences, such as spending large sums of money on expensive and sometimes unaffordable items
• making decisions or saying things that are out of character and that others see as being risky or harmful 

Depression 

which you can read through the link below.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Bipolar-disorder/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

Also check out Cyclothymia which may apply to many of - its another type of Bipolar.

[Robin]

No, I get a lot of depression symptoms but never mania. I agree that there's totally a link between mood disorders or OCD and daydreaming, at least for me. I think I probably have a little OCD too, because I tend to obsess over things and repeat certain thought patterns over and over. Even now that I daydream less, I latch onto other stuff like video games or play out scenarios over and over in my head... I've never taken medication for it, though. I think I can handle it on my own and medication is something I really don't want to become dependent on.