I've had Maladaptive Daydreaming since I was 5, and it's irritating how most people laugh or dismiss it when many people feel ashamed and totally disrupted by it.

It is a coping mechanism for stress, and I believe for most people it's probably related to ADD or OCD as many of us have a "tick" associated with it.

Personally, I pace the room, sometimes dance and twirl while shaking a lightweight object in between my fingers. I can daydream for as little as 20 minutes to as long as 10 hours at a time, although since my teenage years I have cut back significantly.

It is self meditation, the daydreams are extremely elaborate and realistic. Sometimes you talk or sing and don't even realize you're doing it. I try to hide it from my family members, although my husband, parents and sister know about it.

Cutting back can be facilitated by ADD medication, as stimulants speed up your brain waves and allow you to get out of the Theta brain wave state and focus on real life activities. Having a demanding, stimulating job and family will also help. I love my job, but it requires high levels of concentration. I'm married, own horses, am a semi-pro musician on the side plus I have a kid on the way and exercise daily. This has lead to me only day dreaming around 15 minutes a day, sometimes not at all for a few days at a time.

You do experience anxiety from not being able to do it as often at first, but it starts to diminish with less and less daydreaming.