Daydreaming and Mental Illness

[Gwenevere]

Does anyone else find that their daydreams revolve around characters with mental illness?  If yes, any thoughts about why you focus on that scenario?  

The majority of my daydreams and stories revolve around mental illness (of different types, but predominantly OCD), and I feel guilty for finding perverse pleasure in something that causes pain to so many.  My family has struggled with mental illness, so maybe it's just my way of retelling and trying to interpret what we've been through and still experience to a degree.  Maybe it's wish fulfillment--I sit back and watch all of these people manage to live a good life despite their messed up mental wiring and I hope that I manage to do the same despite how my brain overcomplicates life.  Or, maybe I'm just perverted in some way.  

[The1andonlyAbber]

My characters don't necessarily have mental illnesses, but a lot of them have other serious issues due to past traumas in their lives. Most of my characters have pretty dark backstories. I think it's because I had a bad childhood and I want to see people achieve things despite being haunted by the past.

[Alexis Taylor]

Some of my characters have anxiety disorders, like panic disorder or post traumatic stress disorder. I guess it's because I deal with many anxiety issues myself. I would say mental illness is definitely a large aspect to the lives of my characters. 

[The1andonlyAbber]

If it makes you feel any better, one of my characters has autism.

[Gwenevere]

Haha!  Thanks.  I have one, too.  He's a cute kid who's really into magic tricks. 

The1andonlyAbber said:

If it makes you feel any better, one of my characters has autism.

[Gwenevere]

There are certain...shall we say, hiccups...that I struggle with, and the hardest part right now is for me to *accept* that there is something wrong, that something needs to change, and that I'm not supposed to listen to this "hiccup" in my head.  So, yeah, I think my daydreams are a sort of wish fulfillment--part of my brain trying to tell the other part of my brain, "Look, if you just acknowledge that there is a problem, you could actually start changing." 

That's one of my hypotheses, anyway. 

Thanks for your comment, Rebecca.  Do you think that it has helped you to daydream about trauma?  Part of me thinks, "I shouldn't try to shut out these daydreams--they may end up being able to tell me something that I haven't been able to connect otherwise."  What do you think?

Rebecca said:

I agree...I think it could be your way of processing and trying to interpret what your family has experienced, through the telling of these stories. Do you have any concerns about these disorders yourself? I only ask that because it could be a way for you to face your own personal fears and, as you basically stated, see how you can manage in such situations.

For me, yes my main character (who is always seen through my eyes) often deals with some type of issue. It's usually a psychological trauma-based issue, most likely because of the things I experienced in my early years. I like to think it's my way of sorting out the feelings and usually try to have my character become more empowered over time. But that doesn't always happen. :/

[Gwenevere]

The role playing idea makes a lot of sense.  I do that a lot actually, even in real life--if something scares me to do, I'll just pretend to be someone else and do what needs to be done.  

Rebecca said:

Gwenevere, your hypotheses makes sense, plus it could possibly be a way to safely "role play" in your mind. In other words your character could explore issues or feelings you may want to address but don't feel comfortable bringing to the surface yet. At least that's how it's like for me at times.

I do think the daydreams have helped a bit with the trauma issues. But only if my main character's trauma or life history is completely different than my own. Probably because it's a way to safely explore how to deal with certain feelings without it feeling too personalized...if that makes sense. But mainly I think the daydreams have helped as a release. In the daydream I can be a someone I'd like to be more like in real life. Or by picturing myself in a positive way in my daydreams, it carries over in a positive way into my real life. So in that way it can help too.