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How too much daydreaming affected me
- richardjam73 3y agoMaybe instead it is a form of dissociation? Your mind just wants to go elsewhere to avoid something.
- AnEro 3y agoYea I've been diagnosed with dissociation and its one of my methods so worth not writing off as a check-in. That said it can be either and both, isn't mental health fun :D
- Mezzie 3y agoI have very, very severe maladaptive daydreaming and it is absolutely a form of disassociation for me. I was abused as a child by my parents and underserved by schools - there was no way out so I learned how to entertain myself doing nothing because anything I did would be 'wrong' and punished. As an adult it's pain coping - I have multiple sclerosis and of course I don't want to be present in my body: It HURTS here. I am also poor (see: disability) + in my 30s with no kids, so not much of a social life or benefit from being present. I spend most/all of my time at least somewhat disassociated. It's my default state.
- Arisaka1 3y agoThe first time I became aware of my tendencies to daydream was a very hard time of my childhood, and if it wouldn't for video games overstimulating me (which I don't consider them a good thing in excess, but I digress), I cannot even begin to imagine the things I would be doing to avoid pretty much everything back then.
- barrysteve 3y agoIt's possible to imagine forever until you hit a brick wall. Objective fact, atheistic aggression and 'keeping it real' used to be exit doors for daydreaming. We don't do any of that anymore. It has helped me to study the effects of electronics on the nervous system. Many of our automatic behaviours can be supercharged by electronics.
- sidewndr46 3y agowhat is "atheistic aggression" ?
- nottorp 3y agothey eat a baby for breakfast then look at him funny
- marketerinland 3y agoHaving read some of the comments from this account, I suspect that it’s some kind of AI bot
- barrysteve 3y agoNice burn.
- barrysteve 3y agoUh I understand where my comment went wrong. My mistake, sorry Hackernews. I meant the Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennet crowd who were very forward with their views about how religion kills people and is responsible for many violent acts and bad things, and the general combative sense, how Hitchens would push forward an argument (particularly with Islamic people). It is difficult to go on daydreaming about things when imminent threats like that appear to be clear and present dangers. Total idiot move on my behalf to just leave that comment without further qualification.
- pxc 3y agoAs an atheist and a lifelong daydreamer, I don't think atheism (or even antitheism) are opposed to daydreaming at all. You don't have to believe that some possible thing is actual just to daydream about it! That's kinda what makes daydreaming what it is. Why can't (or shouldn't) atheists daydream about anything— even gods?
- zer0tonin 3y agoI actually experienced this during my late childhood and teenage years. I would say between age 8-16. I think the main cause was actually under-stimulation: I was both very socially reclusive, and bored to death by schoolwork. I would guess that my brain was trying to compensate for the lack of social life and things to do by making up people and scenarios were stuff actually happens. This tendency to constantly daydream faded away as I gained independance and entered adulthood. Since I had more stuff to do and more people to talk to. It kinda re-appeared during the 2020-2021 lockdowns, since boredom came back. I think I had almost forgot how it felt to intensely daydream at that point.
- aaarrm 3y agoI actually feel like under-stimulation has caused me to lose the ability to daydream somewhat. I used to have moments in my imagination and I loved it, and then around ~17 or so it all went away. I've been trying to get it back ever since, but I haven't been able to pin down the how or why. At this point I feel my imagination is very untrained, and since it is like a muscle, I need to practice somehow. But I believe the patterns I've instilled in my day-to-day, along with my anxieties around life have forced my imagination into a standstill. Unengaging forms of consumption, ADHD causing me to avoid stimulating tasks, anxiety guiding nearly all of my thoughts all come together to make me have no time or willingness to daydream anymore.
- IAmNotACellist 3y agoTry doing what Jung did, and keep a dream journal. Use it every morning. It helps form connections between your creative unconscious and your ability to perceive and verbalize it in waking life.
- irrational 3y agoMy dream journal would be blank. In my 50+ years of life, I have never woken up and remembered anything from the moment I fell asleep. As far as I can tell, I experience dreamless sleep.
- adamwong246 3y agoI find it weird that the writer wrote so much without saying, precisely, the nature of the day-dreams. Perhaps not so much Maladaptive Daydreaming as Maladaptive Living? If these thoughts consume you, maybe you need to make a more tangible change in your life than pathologizing your own thoughts. Don't dream it, be it, you know?
- blackkettle 3y agoI also found it odd looking through the whole piece waiting for an example only to reach the end with no idea what these daydreams actually are?
- feintruled 3y agoI have this (or something like it). You basically can retreat into a fantasy world that plays out like a movie with yourself as the main character. You can run through any number of imagined Walter Mitty scenarios and feel at least some echo of the emotions - enough to make it quite addictive. It's your standard power fantasy stuff really - imagine the gamut of those Reddit anecdotes that end with "and everyone burst into applause" the whole way up into being world king (why not, it's your daydream!) So playing out scenarios in your head, essentially. Might sound harmless - there is no question of confusing these daydreams with reality - but you can find yourself retreating into the same ones again and again in a loop, especially when triggered by alcohol or music. I could put on my favourite songs and fantasize literally for hours, replaying the emotions. Endlessly scratching an endless itch. Obviously this might not be conducive with a productive life! I guess it would serve one well in solitary confinement. I used to think everyone was like this, but it seems quite rare. I don't seem to have a bad case of it, I certainly wouldn't dream of trying to medicate it. But it does make me feel bad about myself sometimes when I overdo it. Here's an article on it that may clarify more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/28/i-just-go-into-my-head-and-enjoy-it-the-people-who-cant-stop-daydreaming https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/28/i-just-go-in...
- chinchilla2020 3y ago
- jwx48 3y agoWhoa, this takes me back to 2nd grade when I did almost nothing but daydream during class. My daydreams were elaborate science fiction. I got in a lot of trouble for it, both with my parents and the (substitute) teacher. The teacher ended up paddling me for doing it, which was a terrible punishment for being so far ahead of my peers[0] that I had to find a way to compensate. --- [0] I need to be very specific here: I do not think I was smarter than my classmates, or some special genius. I had just been afforded more of an educational foundation by that point in time.
- capableweb 3y agoDid you by any chance went by the name of Spiff in your daydreams? :) Sounds familiar...
- jwx48 3y agoLol. I loved Calvin and Hobbes for many reasons, but one of them was definitely because I could relate. I need to read them again...
- mkaic 3y agoI come back to Calvin and Hobbes regularly as an adult and every time I do I'm reminded just how delightful Watterson's work is. Truly a one-of-a-kind comic strip.
- hu3 3y agoObligatory material about daydreaming by a psychiatrist: - Why Day Dreams Get In Your Way (33 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gw6gLBPvA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gw6gLBPvA8 - Your Constant Daydreaming Can Be Hurting Your Mental Health (42 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUSi9tzdNiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUSi9tzdNiE
- vsareto 3y agoThis regularly happened to me in adulthood, but Vyvanse cleared it up for me (for as long as it’s active).
- brachika 3y agoI never experienced the level of immersiveness of the author, but I did daydream quite a lot all the way into my early 20s. I would completely ignore my professors during my classes, I would talk with myself when I walked home, I would dissociate myself from reality imagining all kinds of different scenarios. How I solved this? Well, not by myself. One of the topics of my daydreams was this girl that I was infatuated with. Long story short, we somehow get together, I realize that our relationship wasn't exactly going on the way I imagined it, we break up, I go through quite a depressive, suicidal period, I lose most of my friends. Completely unrelated, two years after I had to do a surgery which kinda grounded me more into reality. Since then, I rarely daydream, it is like my imaginary world was shattered by this moment. It is like I finally 'grew'.
- rambambram 3y ago> One of the topics of my daydreams was this girl that I was infatuated with. Sounds familiar. Any chance she was of the cluster b type?
- brachika 3y agoOh yeah. Extremely narcissistic, controlling, 'better than you' type of person. Used to let me recover for a couple of weeks then stomped me again. That whole experience completely destroyed my daydreaming experience because in my imagination everything was rosy with unicorns, when it was toxic as hell in real life.
- rambambram 3y agoEspecially with empaths, they can sort of take over your mind for a while. I had the same experience in the past, although it was definitely distinguishable from the daydreaming I knew, which was more often just activated because of boredom at school or as a "passive pastime" in the train.
- noodles_nomore 3y agoPlease explain how you made this connection.
- jkingsman 3y ago> Two theories are popular among the MD community. One attributes MD to a lack of emotional nurturing in childhood, leading to issues in emotional expressivity. It advocates emotional engagement with real life as a potential solution. The second theory suggests that daydream immersion is an innate trait and MD develops when people with this trait become addicted to daydreaming due to unfortunate real-life circumstances. I'm surprised not to see consideration of this as a biochemical phenomenon (beyond the reductive "everything in the brain is biochemical") -- I wonder if an anatomical or signal/chemical oddity could put someone in a state where they're predisposed to switch on the dreaming/imagining circuits in the middle of tasks, almost like a very odd flavor of narcolepsy (which, among other causes, is commonly associated with the immune system destroying cells that produce a likely wakefulness-signalling protein).
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- vishkk 3y agoa little romanticizing: “Just as some people work because they’re bored, I sometimes write because I have nothing to say. Daydreaming, which occurs naturally to people when they’re not thinking, in me takes written form, for I know how to dream in prose. And there are many sincere feelings and much genuine emotion that I extract from not feeling” - Fernando Pessoa “I hesitate in everything, often without knowing why. How often I’ve sought – as my own version of the straight line, seeing it in my mind as the ideal straight line – the longest distance between two points. I’ve never had a knack for the active life. I’ve always taken wrong steps that no one else takes; I’ve always had to make an effort to do what comes naturally to other people. I’ve always wanted to achieve what others have achieved almost without wanting it. Between me and life there were always sheets of frosted glass that I couldn’t tell were there by sight or by touch; I didn’t live that life or that dimension. I was the daydream of what I wanted to be, and my dreaming began in my will: my goals were always the first fiction of what I never was.” Fernando Pessoa
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- atomicnature 3y agoPessoa, as good as that lao from the tao, maybe better; effortless movement, eternal relevance (or something dreamy and awesome like that).
- vishkk 3y agoAbsolutely! Hoping that more and more people read him!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kpw94 3y agoHow much do you listen to music? Read somewhere that listening to music can trigger MD, is that the case for you? (Do you get less MD if you don't listen to music that day?)
- Mezzie 3y agoMy MD is really music triggered. I basically can't listen to music without daydreaming. If I want sound but not to daydream, I have to listen to brown noise/rain/cafe noises.
- yasman 3y agoThe Jungians have much to say about daydreams. It is an active form on exploration on topics the subconscious is wrestling with. They have techniques to induce and explore daydreams in a directed way. “Inner Work” by Robert Johnson is a very approachable text. It focuses on using two technologies for personal growth: dream analysis and active imagination (basically day dreaming but you write it down and have a convo with your subconscious). He warns the imagination one if you really get into it can be all consuming. Reminds me of MD as this guy is going thru it. Might be worth talking to a Jungian therapist (or any therapist really). A Jungian might want to lean more onto the day dreaming to uncover a message if there is one as opposed to trying to “manage it”. I daydreamed heavily when I was younger. A combination of isolation and ways to process hormones and unresolved trauma - what I discover many years later.
- QuantumG 3y agoEvery time someone says that therapy is worthless, I have to remember that Jungians (and Neo-Freudians) exist. Whereas whenever someone says a therapist has really helped, it's because they've been introduced to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for the first time.
- yasman 3y agoI’ve found both to be very helpful at different times of life. There is such variety in the human experience-I don’t think one style of therapy can be beneficial for all.
- weinzierl 3y agoWhen I was at my first bigger class reunion we visited our old school. Most things had changed - schools are more living creatures than buildings apparently. I sat down at my old place in the classroom and looked out the window. When I saw the old tree in front of it, it immediately struck me: How many hours must I have spent watching this tree and while dreaming away utterly bored by what was happening around me.
- steve_adams_86 3y agoI remember that boredom the same way I remember a traumatic memory. It almost induces physical pain, my mind rejects the idea of it so firmly that I have a physical reaction. I found elementary and middle school particularly hard. I was always writhing inside, craving being anywhere else, daydreaming, drawing, anything but what I was expected to do. I must have lived a thousand imaginary lives inside those schools.
- qez2 3y agoWhat I experience is different and less extreme than the author. But I learned, just now, that I have a mental condition. It even has it's own name, and it's not just a variant of ADD. Or at least I did. My symptoms lessened gradually over the years as I got older. I had it much less at 22 years old compared to 12 years old. But I wouldn't have it differently. My mind wandering is (or was) the most important thing about me, and constitute who I am. I wouldn't want to become a different person. Then again, it doesn't take me an hour to change clothes.
- scyzoryk_xyz 3y agoThis sounds like a chunk of what I experience on a regular basis, used to be more intense (now in my 30’s). I know many creatives/artists who harness such traits to their advantage. I suspect more people experience reality like this than would openly admit. This is what I understand as “privacy” in my own way. ADHD was my diagnosis, what I learned is that for everyone with the disorder a completely different set of traits manifest themselves. Different experiences lead to different coping strategies, which in turn develop different personalities and values depending on the experiences with success/failures/traumas. Because of this treatments vary. For some it’s medication, for others it’s something else. Treatment is a big word too - what if along with the things you don’t like there are parts that make you who you are. You don’t want “treatment” to kill those off.
- lazide 3y agoIf part of who you are is in direct response to significant and ongoing unresolved trauma (by whatever source), if resolving that might result in that part ending up ‘killed off’ - or at least changed - no? Hypervigilance, at least? If nothing changes, nothing will change.
- kayodelycaon 3y agoI've actually experienced this. I was diagnosed bipolar after a rather severe psychotic break. Up to that point I had defined my life as being a terrible person striving to become better. Medication very quickly showed me I was not a terrible person, but that I was suffering severely from mania and even more dangerous paranoia. As I stabilized, everything that defined me was stripped away, leaving an empty husk. I very quickly realized as traumatic at this was, it was a start to healing and an enormous opportunity. During that process, I got to choose who I would become. Now, a few years later, I'm happy with who I am and plan to keep improving. Medication has allowed me to sit down and focus on creative things instead of being overwhelmed and scared all the time.
- l33tbro 3y agoThank you gor sharing this. I'm glad you found a way through. It must have been extremely difficult to confront and accept these realities. Seems pretty brave to me.
- SteveDR 3y agoMy tool for this kind of problem in my own life has been writing lyrics / poetry. Poetry is nice because you don’t need to close any loops or structure a beginning, middle, and end. You just drop in, spit up some words that convey the core thought, and leave.
- soulofmischief 3y ago> My daydreaming isn't merely a passive pastime. It interrupts my daily tasks, making conspicuous appearances. Often, I find myself vocalizing thoughts, not as a narration of my actions, but broadcasting the intricate details of my daydreams. I often find myself taking spontaneous walks, even breaking into a run sometimes. Might seem like random movements, but it's my vivid daydreams pulling the strings. I can suddenly burst into laughter or find myself pacing in circles. Well I feel seen today. At times in my youth I seriously questioned whether I had schizophrenia... but I never developed the symptoms. What I do have seems to be a mixture of OCD-related intrusive thoughts and a serious problem with daydreaming/dissociation that severe ADHD thus far has seemed to acceptably explain. But ADHD doesn't explain the deep daydreaming and sudden talking out loud, entire days spent in a catatonic state, etc. > For instance, remembering routes or even simple details like the layout of a frequently visited place demands active processing from me People have definitely commented on my trouble remembering recently taken routes... always just hard to know how common this. A general sense of navigation seems to make up for it but it takes many, many trips for me to not get lost when I move to a new location. > Even simple tasks, which involve a few steps (like taking medicine or changing clothes), can turn into a time-consuming endeavor due to the interruptions caused by daydreaming Most definitely, and again the presence of ADHD makes this difficult to isolate and understand. I mean, all of these these are definitely potential symptoms of ADHD. It just seems to not be the usual case for people I meet with ADHD. It becomes extremely difficult making friends, even ones with ADHD, understand what I go through. Most write it off as me being dramatic about everyday experiences that everyone has, not understanding the acute or chronic nature of the symptoms. A friend recently told me I paid too much attention to diagnoses, but I have had these diagnoses for my entire life and they affect me in such an extreme way that the only progress I have made has been with deep, thorough medical research about my conditions. Even past childhood therapists totally misunderstood these conditions and sometimes made things worse. > Similarly, changing clothes can take more than an hour. Sometimes, I don't manage to complete the task at all. Yeah, and for me at least there is often an element of PTSD from childhood and early adulthood trauma which guides these daydreams, and it honestly sounds like the case for the author here, if I had to wager a guess I'd assume most of these daydreams are rooted in either some kind of direct trauma, or a some desire which is propelled by a hidden underlying trauma. > For clarity, it's important to underline that MD-affected individuals can clearly differentiate between reality and daydreams. Unfortunately, my experience has been that trying to relate the experience of compulsive daydreaming or other extreme facets of ADHD only come across as unhinged to others, especially when you mention things like the radio in your brain you just cannot turn off which interrupts every other thought, or how you might randomly laugh or respond out loud to an imagined conversation in your head. For my part, I am a lifelong lucid dreamer with the ability to modify my dreams, and also suffer from frequent sleep paralysis. In general I have had extreme insomnia my entire life, which leads to a false sort of narcolepsy throughout the day. Last night I got maybe an hour of sleep in total, 10 minute increments followed by an hour of tossing and turning in between. I would be surprised if these things are not all related. Stress also definitely seems to affect this condition. This past week has been immensely stressful and I spent several hours today on my floor just totally in another world.
- eyelidlessness 3y ago> Does this sound like masked ADHD? I asked myself the same question. However, after cycling through numerous ADHD treatment protocols - from extensive therapies to high-dosage medications - my cognitive acuity remained unaltered, and there was no tangible progression. It felt akin to executing null operations in a code. > Interestingly, the MD paradox points towards an unintended consequence of ADHD treatment - it could potentially amplify daydreaming, a peculiar side-effect I noticed while medicated with methylphenidate. In essence, ADHD medication might turbocharge MD. This isn’t a paradox, and it doesn’t necessarily rule out ADHD as an underlying cause/exacerbating factor. Hyperfocus is a common ADHD symptom; said hyperfocus can be fixated on just about anything, yes even daydreaming; stimulants used to treat ADHD symptoms like lack of focus can reinforce unwanted hyperfocus, it’s an unfortunate side effect.
- mkaic 3y agoI got diagnosed a year ago after not knowing I had it my whole life, and I can definitely confirm this. I take Adderall, and the way I describe it to people is that while it definitely helps me focus, it doesn't make it any easier for me to choose what I focus on. So heck yeah, sometimes it's super useful and helps me stay on task at work! Other times, I spend 5 hours diving extremely deep into research papers from fields I have no experience in and end up learning a ton of really cool stuff that is not at all relevant to my day job whatsoever. I have not yet figured out a way to control which scenario occurs on any given day.
- naasking 3y ago> I have not yet figured out a way to control which scenario occurs on any given day. One tip I heard that seems to work pretty consistently: leave some work unfinished at the end of the day. Whatever you're working on at the end of the day, leave the last one or two tasks almost finished, as in, leave only a few minutes of work left. Say writing some comments to document code, writing a detailed commit message of what you're working on, maybe renaming the functions or variables to something more meaningful before you commit, etc. The next day you can easily convince yourself, "well I might as well take a minute or two to finish off these one or two trivial things", and now you're in "focused on work" mode and that's often enough momentum to keep going.
- marcusverus 3y ago[dead]
- whywhywhywhy 3y agoJust want to actually dream a lot lately to be honest. Find myself wasting a up to at least lunchtime on a Saturday if I get the type of sleep that gives consecutive dreams.
- petercooper 3y agoMaybe it's not the same but I daydream quite deeply when I'm doing things that have no verbal component. So like when I'm driving, I'll start planning stuff out and coming up with ideas (often quite visually, too) then "snap" back and think.. I don't remember any of the actual driving. It's common enough to have a name though – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_hypnosis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_hypnosis – and I haven't had any accidents. Curiously, putting on talk radio or podcasts helps as it prevents the daydreaming.
- luminen 3y agoI've experienced the same with routine tasks such as showering or going for a run. I'll often put on a podcast or audiobook, but if I don't find myself actively focusing on the narrative, the daydream will be "louder" than what I'm listening to. I find I can go almost an hour with background noise I never heard before realizing I completely lost my place. This phenomenon does not occur if I'm reading a physical piece of media, like a book.
- stefncb 3y agoI do it with books, too. If I'm not 100% interested in what I'm reading there's a very good chance I'll doze off into an elaborate daydream. I also emphasize with the "louder" thing. Uninteresting things aren't as loud as my thoughts so I have to make an effort to suppress them.
- qup 3y agoI'm finding that I also empathize with what you guys are experiencing, but I never thought to call it a daydream. I guess I have a very fuzzy definition, now that I think about it.
- konaraddi 3y agoI hope OP checks out “Yes, you can cure Maladaptive Daydreaming” - https://wildminds.ning.com/m/discussion?id=4661400%3ATopic%3A201335 https://wildminds.ning.com/m/discussion?id=4661400%3ATopic%3... Some things that have helped a close friend get in the groove of staying present and reduce the frequency and duration of daydreaming: trying to meditate, focusing on the breath to stay present, making an effort to notice when they’re daydreaming and politely telling themselves things to the effect of “come back, the real world is here, not there”, and actively pursuing something interesting (because it’s hard to say no to an addiction unless there’s an engaging substitute).
- siva7 3y agoI don’t think so. It’s a bit like saying “Yes, you can cure depression by being more positive”. The environment is crucial for a better outcome, even having a somewhat stable life, but that’s far from a cure.
- stuckinhell 3y agoThis sounds like something happened to my deceased brother. He was a very very lonely person, and I'm pretty sure his daydreams were a coping mechanism. I wish I could have shaken him out of it.
- rg111 3y agoI had, and to some degree still have this daydreaming "problem". But it didn’t really affect me in any significant way. Pomodoro helps while working/learning. Social Media was a much bigger problem for me. Which I got rid of after reading Deep Work. And I, from my childhood have had, what is often called "directional disorientation". Everyone who knows me considers me smart, I have achievements to demonstrate that. But, I can never remember how to navigate to an address. It takes me about 6-7 times navigating via Google Maps before I can visit it without Maps. I am sometimes confused about some streets of my home town! I don't have problem focusing for longer times. I can work hard and learn quickly, but familiarity with physical spaces has always eluded me. Edit: Over the years, I have talked with at least half a dozen people on the internet who told me that they believe that they have this thing, if it is a thing.
- justinlloyd 3y agoGoogle Maps and its ilk are like the contacts in your phone. If you teach your brain you don't need to remember that detail because you have a gadget to do it for you, you brain won't remember it. I have a pretty good mental map of the world around me, and can navigate pretty well, but the moment that a GPS navigation system gets involved, my brain shuts off and I don't remember how to get anywhere or where things are in relation to other things. I noticed this effect 25 years when I got my first in-car navigation system. I'm really good at recalling long sequences of numbers, six or seven credit cards and bank cards, including CV2 and expiry dates between my wife's wallet and my wallet, but the numbers in my contacts list on my phone, I don't remember any of those, my brain has learned it doesn't need to. I have observed the same effect in code navigation tools in IDEs for a quarter of a century, myself and other people forgetting the function they wrote just ten minutes ago. With the rise of chat GPTs I wonder how long we stop remembering details about documentation when there is an application that will just tell us what we need to know. There was even an Outer Limits episode about this very subject 30+ years ago.
- rg111 3y agoBut I had access to Google Maps not from my childhood, but from about the age of 16/17. I was like this even before that.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mrangle 3y agoMasked ADHD? Just ADHD. There is no progression. Meds are unreliable. Moreover, my opinion is that this particular place on the spectrum is where ADHD and Asperger's meet. Stated differently, the puzzle of ADHD-PI may be that it is instead a symptom of (sometimes very high functioning) autism.
- siva7 3y agoThat’s not where the actual scientific research about Maladaptive Daydreaming is hinting at. It’s not just ADHD, it checks also many marks with a PTSD or Dissociation but is still unique with its other characteristics.
- mrangle 3y agoThe "actual scientific research" will be most abundant and reliable for ADHD being correlated with this symptom. In fact, ADHD is frequently diagnosed using only this symptom along with any quantity of unavoidable life inhibiting factors that proceed from it. You'd find it an impossible feat to put together an adult subject group that excludes the PTSD variable, or a child group that includes it. Psychologists will find it impossible to use PTSD in differential diagnosis, given its frequency for ADHD (and autistic) individuals.
- anjc 3y agoIs daydreaming as maladaptive as it's presented? For me it's more like scenario planning than nonsense dreaming. Even if 90% is fruitless, 10% have fed into real life decisions that have had real life outcomes. An extreme example is that "call of the void" feeling one gets when standing beside a large drop. Is it daydreaming to engage with this feeling in this scenario, or is it an intuitive way to reinforce positive decisions?
- anon7331 3y agoI suffer from this and have for as long as I can remember (at least started around ~17). In the article he never mentioned his triggers, but it's important to figure out what they are. For me, the primary trigger is music (both audio and video). If I am listening to it, the day dreaming kicks in and it's too much to handle. As a software engineer this is a pain in the ass to say the least... The only thing to help me was completely cutting off my triggers. I had to cut out music completely as well as remove Youtube from my workflow (no music, podcasts, passive listening, etc). I had to make additional cuts to other triggers as well... the only thing that helps is a complete cut off. Edit: I recommend buying some ear plugs and using those instead of headphones or airpods...
- mashygpig 3y agoOP, have any doctors mentioned that it may be epilepsy? Seizures present in many ways and can sometimes be described as dreamlike experiences. Might be worth asking about.
- treeman79 3y agoGet some audiobooks. Epic fantasy / sci-fi or whatever. See how you are doing tasks when a good portion of your mind is preoccupied. I’m probably 20x faster since it stops the day dreaming.
- jancsika 3y ago> This immersive daydreaming often pulls me out of reality's context. Rankly speculating-- there's some extremely painful emotion the author is avoiding by opting for daydream over engaging with whatever is going on in reality. Edit: perhaps not 100% of the daydreams. I mean, sometimes humans really are bored. But it's very likely in some of these contexts, the author has a decent idea of what they want to do in reality and are specifically avoiding it to avoid some painful emotion that goes with whatever potential negative consequence could come from their action. With this many daydreams that are this disruptive, seems very likely they're protecting the author from something. (Or they protected the child version of the author and continue their "job" of protecting into adulthood where they've become a hindrance.)
- jamiek88 3y ago" the author has a decent idea of what they want to do in reality and are specifically avoiding it to avoid some painful emotion that goes with whatever potential negative consequence could come from their action." Food for thought indeed. Any ideas how to break out of that?
- jancsika 3y agoA few things need to align. The author has already explicitly stated how big a problem this is for them. That's a really good start. It sounds like the author is making these realizations all after the fact. The next step would be to notice what's happening right before they go into daydream mode. This is difficult and takes a lot of practice/failures. That basically works against a coping mechanism they've apparently had their entire life. So the things they are coping with come into the foreground, and doing that can be scary and extremely disruptive. Therapist recommended for this step. Finally, there's a way to look for comfy little toy problems to practice making a decision to do something other than the daydreaming. Things that are low risk and high reward. Imagine a vacation where your train departing while another goes the opposite direction, and you suddenly realize your deep desire is to tell the guy in the other train, "Hey, you're not allowed to smoke in there!" Bam-- perfect toy problem. You'll never see them again, and you can spend a bunch of time after that seeing what it felt like to say the thing that daydreaming prevented. But to get there you've got to be aware of the opportunity, and that takes time and practice.
- TastyAmphibian 3y agoI literally do this everyday in the office. I get lost in the previous moments which drug my work. This may probably be attribute to me being alone in the office?
- atlantic 3y agoI noticed that you're not engaging with the content of your daydreams. You're basically treating them as a medical problem. The more you ignore your unconscious, the more noise it makes, to try and get your attention. You need to start a dialogue.
- Bluescreenbuddy 3y agoHoly fuck, this is me now. They put me on ritalin in December and I don't feel like I've made any progress but the day dreaming feels like it got "worse"
- polynomial 3y agoCan someone tldr this? I feel like the author is grappling with a huge avoidance issue but the language is unfamiliar so I may be missing some context.