If there was a cure for your wrank imagination, would you take it?

[Anne]

I will have MD permanently.

No, this isn't a pessimistic outlook on the cure for Maladaptive Daydreaming; it's a confession. I have to confess that even if a cure were an option, I would not take it. Oh! What a thing to hear myself say! But it is true.

So tell me, my fellow tortured souls: if you had a free ticket to sanity, would you take it?

 

The philosophy behind my belief is simple: our personalities as human beings are based on our experiences.

But experience itself is an objective priniciple; it is our perception that alters and biases the experience, and forms it into our character.

Our perception, our ability to think builds our personalities, and anyone with MD certainly has a unique method of perceiving and thinking...

I know I am a good thinker, and I fear the worst should my MD be altered, considering it is the method by which I do so.

[Truthful Alibi]

If there was a cure, I don't think I would take it.

Yeah, I'd like to make my daydreaming less maladaptive, but I wouldn't want it to go away.

I think most people on here feel similarally (a word?).

 

[Julie]

Depends. It's not proven that MD is connected to chemical / physical changes in organism. If it's so, purely chemical change in body and it complicates life, then taking medicine would be the most reasonable solution. You know, you can't cure clinical depression without medicine. But most probably either MD is purely mental or it's mainly mental. Then taking any cure instead on working and controlling one's dreaming is unjustified shortcut. And regarding sanity... sanity doesn't exist. As Jung said, show me a sane man and I will cure him for you :)

[Heinriech Heisner]

There is a cure, it takes a lot of practice to get over it. I didn't want to let it go in the beginning, but now I can't stand daydreaming because it interferes with regular life, which for me is way more rewarding, like real achievements and real relationships. Julie is right though, there is no sanity, there are just a lot of different norms.

[thetxbelle]

How did you get over it? I like my day dreams but it's really out if control, and I know I'm missing out on stuff because I'm so "spacey" to other people

Heinriech Heisner said:

There is a cure, it takes a lot of practice to get over it. I didn't want to let it go in the beginning, but now I can't stand daydreaming because it interferes with regular life, which for me is way more rewarding, like real achievements and real relationships. Julie is right though, there is no sanity, there are just a lot of different norms.

[Abigail Gault]

I wouldn't take it, honestly. It's my escape from reality.

[roxanne]

I would never want to give it up.  There are things about it I might like to modify, but not if it cost me too dearly - like giving up the intensity of the experience.

[Heinriech Heisner]

You'd all be surprised what is on the flip side of the MD coin. Of course you wouldn't really understand it unless you experience it. Even if there was a medical treatment for it, it's not like you couldn't revert back.

[Nicola]

Never in a million years! As unhealthy as my daydreaming is, and despite the negative impact it has on my real life, I couldn't be without my fantasy world :-)

[Heinriech Heisner]

I taught myself to stop doing it. I wore a bracelet to remind myself to step back from my daydreaming and focus on my surroundings. Eventually it became second nature and after about six months I no longer needed the bracelet. At first it was just a control issue, being able to control when I daydreamed, but then I pushed it further to where I stopped daydreaming all together and now it is almost repulsive to daydream - even though I get urges to do it. It's an emotional addiction for me and I don't like it. If I go there I lose myself in real life. I mean, it feels good to get swept away - I won't deny that feeling, but between daydreaming and real life, I'm choosing real life. I imagine it's the same with any addiction. It feels good, that's why we keep doing it. But if you want to experience real life, you have to leave daydreaming behind. And it is scary at first, but then you involve yourself with real activities and life gets a whole lot better. If you just want to control it, I really recommend wearing something that you normally wouldn't - and every time you notice it, pause for a moment and come out of your daydreaming. It will take a while, but it's possible. In the beginning I would only get a couple of minutes of no dreaming, if even that much - but like I said, with enough practice, the control becomes second nature.


thetxbelle said:

How did you get over it? I like my day dreams but it's really out if control, and I know I'm missing out on stuff because I'm so "spacey" to other people

Heinriech Heisner said:

There is a cure, it takes a lot of practice to get over it. I didn't want to let it go in the beginning, but now I can't stand daydreaming because it interferes with regular life, which for me is way more rewarding, like real achievements and real relationships. Julie is right though, there is no sanity, there are just a lot of different norms.

[Heidi Larson]

I would take it in a heartbeat.

 

My husband and I are currently trying to conceive our first child. I'm so affraid that, once we do have a baby, my MD will get in the way of me being a good mom. I daydream a lot in the car (dangerous, I know) which scares me. I'm so afraid that I will get so lost in a daydream that I will forget my baby in the backseat on a hot day or drop it when my daydreams cause me to pace or move about. My MD has also begun to make me less interested in my own reality (because the stuff I dream up is so much more entertaining than my own life, which I feel like I've done little with) which doesn't help on the whole "trying to conceive" front....It's hard to be "in the mood" when you're not terribly excited about your surroundings and life situation.

[Heidi Larson]

That is what I am hoping. But I'm not going to count on it, either.

EludeMyFantasies said:

That's the vicious cycle of excessive daydreaming. Love to daydream. Sucks you into more daydreaming. Lead to realizing how much better daydreaming is than reality and so on. 

I am the same way.

Good luck with conceiving. Maybe it will be the life change you need to break the daydream cycle :o)

[greyartist]

I would.

 This started some how along with bad anxiety most likely due to perimenapause just 2 months ago. It is messing up my work life, my marriage, and making me antisocial. I just want my life back.