[Ios88]

Since I was like 4 or 5, I've daydreamed a lot. When daydreaming alone I dance around my room, often with music if noone's around, flapping something like a pen in my hand. May sound weird but I've been doing it my whole life. The dreams either involve an idealised image of me, stuff I've seen in books/films, or both. When I read books/watch films, I can't stop daydreaming about what my idealised image would do in that situation that the characters are in. I dream I'm with them and don't resume reading/watching until I get tired or bored of doing that particular scenario. Do I have maladaptive daydreaming?

[Crazy Hitch]

Hi Ios88

Thank you for introducing yourself to us.

I am glad that you are here at Psychcentral.

Welcome.

This is a good place to be for online support.

I know heaps of 4/5 year olds that day dream quite a lot - it is very common at this age.

And they'll dance all around their room too; I know people that do this; not just kids, this is for sure.

So I don't think that the dancing and the music sounds weird at all.

I think that when we read books or watch films yes we can look towards certain characters indeed. And make a judgment on how we perceive them.

Those that we find more idealising we look towards traits that we find attractive.

So I guess when you are living out your every day life you are in some way questioning "What would X be doing?" to seek some sort of assurance that you may be on the right track.

This in itself isn't all that harmful so long as you are leaving some space for your own personal identity.

Which is where I think the balance lies.

Still being able to be true to yourself and your values.

And to be able to interact in every day situaitons with others; be it family or be it friends with the freedom to be you.

[mountain human]

Originally Posted by Ios88

Since I was like 4 or 5, I've daydreamed a lot. When daydreaming alone I dance around my room, often with music if noone's around, flapping something like a pen in my hand. May sound weird but I've been doing it my whole life. The dreams either involve an idealised image of me, stuff I've seen in books/films, or both. When I read books/watch films, I can't stop daydreaming about what my idealised image would do in that situation that the characters are in. I dream I'm with them and don't resume reading/watching until I get tired or bored of doing that particular scenario. Do I have maladaptive daydreaming?

When does daydreaming become "maladaptive"? I'm curious about this myself. When we spend more time in our fantasy world than the real world? When we use fantasy as a way to escape from anxiety and depression/loneliness? How unhealthy is this really?

[pegasus]

Hello there, here is a really good article on maladaptive daydreaming >>>> Maladaptive Daydreaming ? What Is It? Often used as a way of escaping reality and becomes maladaptive when the daydreaming starts to take over. It could also be a dissociative disorder In-Depth: Understanding Dissociative Disorders | Psych Central or even a physical problem so please go and see your doctor.

[avlady]

i never heard of it before but it does sound logical. i'll have to read about it on the post above

[mountain human]

My former therapist jokingly called me Walter Mitty, a fictional character who spent a lot of time fantasizing. A person with a dissociative disorder is unable to distinguish between reality and his daydream, a much more serious issue.