I didn't go through trauma, so why do I have MDD?

[True Blue Dreamer]

Most people on this website say that they got their MDD due to an abusive childhood or going through some form of trauma. with me, I never really gone through any truama, thank the good Lord! I was never abused so why do I have MDD? I assume that I got it during middle school when I had no friends and I was bullied, but looking back on it, the bullying wasn't that severe. it was just some stupid little girls saying rude remarks about my weight and all that, but it was not that big of a deal compared to how kids are cyber bullied these days. I guess what I'm trying to say is I do not understand why I got MDD if I never Gone through anything dramatic. now thinking about it, I think another major trigger was my boredom. I was so bored and lonely in middle school and high school I would daydream a life where I had a active social life and having a lot of fun. Maybe my personality is prone to get this type of disorder for I an inspiring screenwriter and I've always been a daydreamer even before it got maladaptive. Is anyone else in the same boat as me?

[Insomnyac]

"  I assume that I got it during middle school when I had no friends and I was bullied, but looking back on it, the bullying wasn't that severe.  " - I'm always skeptic about this kind of self-analysis. Just because you look at someone else who had a " bigger " trauma than you had, it doesn't mean that your trauma is smaller or less powerful. Who is anyone to actually compare one trauma with another one ? There is no point in this. 

A trauma is always relative to the observer - this being said, abuse is not required to experience a trauma, and actually nothing else is required, because the traumatic event is what YOUR MIND decides to label as one. 

As for your loneliness and personality type : yes , it is possible that an excessive fantasizing ability and an over-active mind is the characteristic of a person like you ( who likes spending time in his/her own mind and likes to write ), but make sure that you are actually happy with your dreaming and it's not the dreaming that is controlling you. This is very important and it makes the difference between healthy fantasizing and MDD, which in my opinion is like a parasite in the mind, that grows only bigger and bigger, creating difficulties in your thinking process and even generating problems in your real life. 

Best wishes ! 

[Dizzy R]

I never went through anything I'd call abuse either. But my parents went through an ugly separation when I was in my early teens, which also happens to be when my main "character" came to be and when I started staying up late to obsessively draw him and craft his ever-changing backstory. So, even though what I was going through (parents splitting up) is pretty common, and a feature of many well-adjusted people's early lives, in hindsight I wonder if this constituted a traumatic period for me. Maybe if I'd had counselling or something at the time, I would have found a better way to cope with life.

[Canna]

I started around age 7 without external trauma as well. Turns out I inherited a personality disorder than manifested later in life. Of course children cannot be diagnosed with personality disorders because their personality is still forming. However tendencies are present, and with me MD was a big one - always seeing myself through others eyes because of my own confused sense of self.

If you also have problems with anxiety, panic attacks etc I would suggest talking to a professional

[Emma]

Like most people here have said, I think it's not a result of trauma.  Some people are just prone to it.  It so happens, however, that it is also a fantastic way to escape from trauma.  Therefore, there are more people with trauma who have problems with too much daydreaming.  But the trauma didn't cause it.  They were already prone to it.  It's just that loads of people without trauma who are prone to it might've eventually outgrown it or might not do it as much.

This is just my theory based on the fact that I also had no childhood trauma and yet have daydreamed all my life.  But I've noticed that in stressful or traumatic times, I do it a lot more.

[Natasha Mander]

pretty much same. my maladaptive daydreaming actually started as a child (i did the pacing thing even as a six year old) and ive never gone through anything even remotely traumatic. i have a very tight-knit group of friends, my family is fine, i keep good grades in school...nothing is wrong with my life. honestly, i just believe that i have a really over active imagination, and i just need to find some way to let it all out :) 

[Satchi R]

Does anyone know how to increase your self-esteem? How does one go about curing this?