# Maladaptive Day-dreaming?



## vessy (Mar 17, 2013)

I'm not sure this is the right forum , but however i wanted to share my story. 

Im day dreaming a lot and i find myself into another world where all is different....Today by accident i decided to look for day dreaming in google and i found some topics about maladaptive day dreaming...I felt like i have written that information...
Ive been day dreaming since my childhood , creating imaginory worlds..It actually all started with the books for Harry Potter and then the movies - its like they unlocked my imagination..I would lead whole conversations with different people in my mind...Even nowadays when i decide to watch the movie i catch myself making up new plots again and again - i have to stop every 10 or 15 minutes and start pacing...And music makes me day dream even more .. I usually pace back and forth my room , sometimes pretending to be someone..I move as whatever movements im doing in my day dreams..Sometimes i get angry or start laughing...And its like i live it indeed...
The problem is that i cant control it.The stories go bad too often - i mean i start a story but it goes all wrong , in the wrong direction. ... I feel miserable and i often cry alone because i live through it. This also affects my marks at school but thats another problem..

I just thought if this can be maladaptive day dreaming and if you can share your experience with me..


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## Gurosan (Sep 4, 2012)

that is great dude! keep doing that and enjoy it as much as u can. that is your special power,ability. don't let others affect you because of it. i say it is awesome and keep doing it! i also do create fantasy worlds and all sort of imaginery stuff so i can relate. keep it rolling because there is no reason not to embrace it. it is unique special talent!


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

I do similar things, though I'm able to control it, and it doesn't interfere with my daily functioning as I'm not in school or employed.

It seems to be causing you distress when the stories "go wrong." I'm curious, do you ever attempt to write any of this out, like say as fanfics? I use my daydreaming to come up with story ideas (I have my own original characters and plots), and even though the plots don't always go in the direction I'd planned, it gives me something to do, it gives me an amount of control over it, and it gets it out of my system--I've found that if there's a story idea weighing on my mind and I write it, that kind of minimizes its hold over my attention and I can move on to something else.

I think having a powerful imagination is a good thing. If you have it, perhaps try to find a way to harness it to create something original? :stu


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## Disintegration (Sep 8, 2012)

"You call it daydreaming, I call it multitasking...".

It's a good thing to daydream every once in a while, otherwise we'd all go insane. Don't worry about it unless it's completely interfering with your ability to handle "reality".


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## sad_eyes (Apr 11, 2012)

I started talking to myself around fourteen to deal with lack of social interaction with peers.

It started as recreating situations in which I had perceived myself to be inferior or awkward. In the recreated scenes, I always came off as being superior than the others involved in the situations.

Also, around this time I wrote stories and in order to better visualize the scenes and characters, I would act out the scenes by myself in my bedroom. This involved talking for the characters and changing my voice to better fit whichever character I was being. I would do whatever the scene called for; if the character was being murdered, I threw myself across the floor and kicked and choked myself. If two characters were having sex, well, I did my best to simulate that, too.

I understand what you mean about music. For my scenes, it created the perfect backdrop. You know, in movies, it's usually some kind of sound in the background? Like that.

Anyways, around sixteen I stopped writing because of depression and my anxiety extended to my writing. I over analyzed everything I wrote to the point that I just gave up writing - my childhood dream was to be an author. 
But the talking and acting didn't stop. In fact, it got worse. I was not in a public school setting due to agoraphobia, so that left me with lots of time on my own. I started to conjure up "other people" for me to socialize with. I would sit in my room and talk to "_myself_" for hours. I emphasize myself because I know these people are not actually there and I realize that I am the only one I talk to.

This is my primary coping mechanism.


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## Landry (Feb 25, 2013)

I have a similar problem. I daydream and pace extensively, and sometimes I find myself "acting out" my daydreams without realizing it. This usually happens in the privacy of my own bedroom, but I do sometimes do it in public. I am always worried that people will think I am talking to myself or am weird. I have been asked why I am pacing at work before, and I have just kind of laughed it off like "I don't even know, haha, so weird", and they are just like "Oh Cole, you need to get more sleep" and it has worked out well where I am just the cute little dorky kid who works too hard. Overall, I enjoy my daydreaming and don't think of it as a bad thing. The world in my head is better than the real world. I have also found that doing this while running (especially on a treadmill, just so you don't get lost outside or something, haha) allows me to get out a lot of negative emotion and a great workout (I forget that I am "working out" and can run for miles without really noticing the time or energy that I have put into it). Now I have nice legs and an awesome personal world in my head ...


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

Just remembered. I used to physically act out my daydreams while listening to very loud music in the dark (so nobody, not even me, could see me, and nobody could hear me if I sang along or spoke up)--it was like acting out music videos or scenes from movies. I never knew how to explain this to anyone and was embarrassed by it, so I just said I was "dancing in the dark." ops But I stopped doing that a few years ago and I really miss it. (Can't do it now because it's been so long I'd be too embarrassed, plus the loud music would keep family awake.) It was almost like a sort of catharsis. :sigh


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