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Old Apr 12, 2020, 05:21 PM
Anonymous35014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BirdDancer View Post
Thanks for the interesting article, bluebicycle! I'm glad you posted about that, because that makes me realize that I should be clear that I don't mean "wandering mind" in the sense of sitting in a class, but instead of paying attention to a teacher, rather thinking "I wonder what I want for dinner", "Do you think he might like me?", or "I think I'm not smart enough to get a good grade in this class." I'm more referring to daydreaming where one is actively creating stories in one's mind, like as if a movie or soap opera. Thinking through long scenarios or screen plays, of sorts, with extreme details of dialogue and mental images. I know all people do that to a small degree, but maladaptively is an extreme. I wonder if there is a differential, on the whole, between the amount of time and detail that many people with bipolar disorder daydream, at times, and those without bipolar disorder. When I refer to maladaptive daydreaming, it could be daydreaming almost non-stop for several hours in a day. Often to the point where when others are speaking to you, you are barely able to listen. Daydreaming in bed. In the bathroom. In a car. At work. Almost non-stop. Almost living or observing hours and hours of another life. Sometimes when that "story" is exhausted/finished, starting over again with perhaps a slightly different version, or moving onto something totally new. Perhaps forgetting to eat or bathe, at its worst.
Thanks for clarifying, BirdDancer.

I do recall having done that type of daydreaming you're talking about, but it was done when I was a kid, not nowadays.

In my case, I stopped doing it because I got in trouble in school and at home. I had become hyperaware of it and took measures to make sure I didn't do it anymore. (We're talking about teachers calling my parents, detention, bullying, my parents grounding me, etc..) However, I probably would still be doing it if I wasn't so hyperaware or if I didn't get in trouble so many times.

In thinking about it more, think that was more of an ADHD thing for me, and now that I'm on ADHD medication, the daydreaming doesn't really have a chance to happen anyways. So even if I did daydream to this day, I probably wouldn't be able to tease out whether it was an ADHD thing or a bipolar thing. (Sorry if that's not helpful.)

On another topic, I do find people with bipolar to be very creative, so I wonder if the daydreaming and "creative nature" of bipolar are connected in some way.
That is, perhaps daydreaming is one way people with bipolar are able to express their creativity when they aren't able to express it any other way.
Hugs from:
Anonymous46341, bpcyclist
Thanks for this!
bpcyclist