Maladaptive Daydreaming

Have you ever caught yourself imagining scenarios in your head? There are characters, interacting with you, or with each other. Then suddenly you realize you’re making loud faces (like frowning or smiling) in response to whatever the characters are doing in your head. Right? Probably you were daydreaming. We all know what dreams are. They are the expression of our unconscious impulses, disguised in the form of images or symbols, making their way to our consciousness, carrying some meaning. Sigmund Freud rightly defined Dreams to be “the Royal Road to Unconsciousness”.

Read More: The Interpretations of Dreams by Sigmund Freud

However, Daydreaming is something different. Daydreaming is mostly conscious, where the person’s attention gets focused on a stream of consciousness that detaches them from the current reality. It follows a line of scenarios that takes the person away from their reality, being directed towards the person’s internal state by activating one’s default and executive networks of brain. In brief, daydreaming can be said to be an act of active and conscious dreaming, that delves an individual into a state of imagination.

How beautiful, isn’t it? It is basically a person getting to choose their own dreams, decide on the characters, and plot the beginning, ending, climax and everything. The properties of daydreams are, as follows:

• They provide a sense of relief to the person, amidst extreme periods of external stress and exhaustion.
• It is way that allows one’s to run wild and creative.
• It is a proven stress-buster under difficult circumstances, if practiced with proper self-control.
• May act as a source of intrinsic motivation for the person.
• Helps them to visualize their goals

But honestly, it is not always that sweet and luxurious as it sounds. Now, think about it.

• You have assignments to complete, deadlines to meet and reports to review. But you’re preoccupied with scenarios of getting admission in your dream college to study abroad.
• All day you are busy visualizing scenarios in your head, be it when you’re on bed, or in school studying, doing household chores, in the market buying groceries, or attending an important lecture.
• You’re so lost in imagining a date with your favorite celebrity crush, that you forget having put something on stove, ultimately burning the whole dish.
• You spend hours in planning and marrying your crush for the 37 times in your imagination that makes you run late on achieving deadlines.

What if Walter Mitty from The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013) did not give in to his daydreams to venture into the unknown, and lived his life through it? What if he allowed his daydreams overpower his visions of reality? Uh-huh. Things would have taken a worse turn for him. This is basically where maladaptive daydreaming comes in.

Maladaptive daydreaming

Maladaptive Daydreaming is often an underestimated psychological disorder which is otherwise known as excessive daydreaming. It can be defined as the excessive behavior of engaging in daydreaming, that disrupts with the normal flow of their regular activities. In other words, it refers to the act of being so focused in daydreaming, that the person loses touch with their reality quite often, thus making them run behind in respect to their daily tasks.

As observed from several case studies, ‘daydreaming’ may extend from taking 1 or 2 waking hours of one’s daily life to taking several hours of the same day, depending on the intensity of the disorder. It is “maladaptive” because it causes significant distress to the person, leading to impairment in their normal personal, social and occupational life. The nature of dreams in maladaptive daydreaming can be:

• Intense and vivid
• Complex, informative and elaborate
• Disconnected with the reality
• May include one or many characters, which could have some or no connection with reality
• Have reinforcing properties, like induces sense of pleasure, stress-relief and contentment
• It may occur intentionally or unintentionally

Symptoms of Maladaptive Daydreaming:

As understood, the main symptom of maladaptive daydreaming, is daydreaming itself, at a continuous stretch (for an hour, consistently). It is not a recognized condition, and thus is hardly diagnosable. Often it is accounted as a symptom for other disorders like depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, dissociative identity disorder, psychosis and attention deficit hyperactive disorder. However, the following could be some other of its probable symptoms:

1. Disassociation with the reality during the episodes of daydreaming.
2. Daydreams are often accompanied by repetitive movements, racing of heart, movement of limbs in ways that is related to the content of the daydream.
3. Observable changes in facial expressions, like smiling, frowning, or movement of lips, when one is in the middle of the episode.
4. Social withdrawal on purpose, as the person tends to find more solace in his/her daydreams.
5. Encountering problems in task and time management, as one keeps engaged in their daydreams most of the time.
6. Intense feelings of shame and guilt.
7. Feeling a compulsive need to engage in daydreaming.
8. Making conscious effort in trying to control or reduce the incidences of daydreaming, ultimately leading to increase in distress.
9. Facing a state of to and fro shifting, between reality and daydreaming episodes.
10. Brings about dysfunction and impairment in daily activities

It is a serious disorder that requires professional attention. Mentioned below are few ways in which maladaptive dreaming can be treated:

1. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) : to address the thought processes, related emotional reactions and actions.
2. Mindfulness and meditation: to enhance one’s ability to focus on their regular activities and increase their awareness of their external environment.
3. Setting structured schedules: to improve time management
4. Set a planner: to monitor everyday tasks
5. Engaging in physical activity: which helps in relaxing one’s mind and body from bearing what’s not important for them.
6. Medicinal attention: like the consumption of antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication.

Indeed, the best way to tackle the problem of maladaptive dreaming is to share one’s thoughts and feelings with someone credible. It would be better to have a mental health professional as that credible person, but that’s not possible most of the times. Talking with someone trustworthy about one’s own concerns is proved to reduce episodes of maladaptive dreaming. It may not have a long term effect, but is helpful in the process of treatment.