Maladaptive Daydreaming.

[Five to One]

This is what I do 24/7, in my head it's always 90% daydream and maybe 10% paying attention to what is going on around me. Everyone who knows me says I have my own world and I really do. But it's driving me hell of a nuts, 'cause it seems it completely blocked me from being aware of the external possibilities and I keep missing on life.

[Hitoshi-San]

Psssht..... I do this stuff all the time and I'm 7w8. But, I would have to say the more detached, self-reflected types, like 4. My brother is a possible 4 and he will carry on full conversations with himself when he's bored and has that kind of imagination that could create a whole new world.

[OrangeAppled]

Yes and it usually has themes of whatever I am longing for. It's like fantasy, but not in the magical sense, in a sexual sense (although not necessarily about sex at all) - desire. I know it's unhealthy because it feeds desire and discontent in me.

Like a 9, there is escapism from the present and the unpleasant (I think 7s daydream for that purpose too), but instead of leaving me more peaceful, as if daydreaming were some kind of emotional anaesthetic, it fuels the longing and the melancholy. It makes me constantly have a comparison of my ideals with the real world. It explores the deeply significant while all else feels incredibly mundane. I try to escape the mundane more than the pain of life.

This daydreaming can be anything from an ongoing storyline to visuals that music or the general ambience may inspire. It's cheesy, but I like doing music videos in my head, where I splice together striking, imagined visuals that the music conjures up. I can also be quite shallow and spend time constructing rooms, clothing, and other crelative projects I'll probably never do in actuality. I like music and still visuals and books better than TV or movies for this reason, because I like to be able to lapse into my own fantasy that these things inspire. My own visuals tend to be more interesting to me.

I've realized how much of this embodies a value-concept of sorts though - it has an emotional tone to it and it says something to me about human experience, whether I've had it outside of the daydream or not. My daydreams are frequently tragic because of that. When I was younger I'd purposely read/watch/listen to stuff that would stir up some intense fantasy that would upset me. And then I'd know what impact something has on people - what it means and what weight it carries.

I know this has some value, but it's not real world value and tends to only receive any validation if I can channel it into some form that others can understand it in. That's not easy to do and even that can be written off as frivolous.

The other half of the time I am working out what I feel/think and/or musing on theories and ideas. So if not daydream, then I'm lost in thought. People think I have a dreamy appearance regardless of where my brain is actually at. Staying in the moment for any length of time is hard for me.

[BlakeUndefined]

Yes and it usually has themes of whatever I am longing for. It's like fantasy, but not in the magical sense, in a sexual sense (although not necessarily about sex at all) - desire. I know it's unhealthy because it feeds desire and discontent in me.

Like a 9, there is escapism from the present and the unpleasant (I think 7s daydream for that purpose too), but instead of leaving me more peaceful, as if daydreaming were some kind of emotional anaesthetic, it fuels the longing and the melancholy. It makes me constantly have a comparison of my ideals with the real world. It explores the deeply significant while all else feels incredibly mundane. I try to escape the mundane more than the pain of life.

This daydreaming can be anything from an ongoing storyline to visuals that music or the general ambience may inspire. It's cheesy, but I like doing music videos in my head, where I splice together striking imagining visuals that the music conjures up. I can also be quite shallow and spend time constructing rooms, clothing, and other crelative projects I'll probably never do in actuality. I like music and still visuals and books better than TV or movies for this reason, because I like to be able to lapse into my own fantasy that these things inspire. My own visuals tend to be more interesting to me.

I've realized how much of this embodies a value-concept of sorts though - it has an emotional tone to it and it says something to me about human experience, whether I've had it outside of the daydream or not. My daydreams are frequently tragic because of that. When I was younger I'd purposely read/watch/listen to stuff that would stir up some intense fantasy that would upset me. And then I'd know what impact something has on people - what it means and what weight it carries.

I know this has some value, but it's not real world value and tends to only receive any validation if I can channel it into some form that others can understand it in. That's not easy to do and even that can be written off as frivolous.

The other half of the time I am working out what I feel/think and/or musing on theories and ideas. So if not daydream, then I'm lost in thought. People think I have a dreamy appearance regardless of where my brain is actually at. Staying in the moment for any length of time is hard for me.

OMG. Thank you. Out of every post, i relate to this the most.

[laterlazer]

I definitely do this a lot, I always wondered if a lot of people talk to themselves too or if it was something I really shouldn't be admitting out loud, although I don't talk to myself as much as it's talking to an imagined person in a scenario I've created for myself. But unlike some people here it seems I'm better at not doing it in public, most of my daydreaming is done when I'm alone. I'm mostly always aware of the presence of other people.

I actually have multiple daydream worlds where I sometimes try to pick up where I left off but I forget what daydream I might have had at a certain time. I love doing the music video thing too like someone above said, I love to listen to songs that don't have a video and construct one as I listen, same with tv shows, I think of different plots and additions of characters I think would take the story to a different level etc. And of course there's the whole imagining all the possibilities regarding my relations with real life people.

[Galena]

Yes. For me, it is mostly about projects I am working on and the fantasy self who is much further along on them than I am. It seems constructive because of the ties to real activities, but that's an illusion. Really, it's an easier but ultimately unsatisfying (and as such addictive) way to get the emotional juice out of accomplishment without having to face the unglamorous work.

[Redbone]

I actually have multiple daydream worlds where I sometimes try to pick up where I left off but I forget what daydream I might have had at a certain time. And of course there's the whole imagining all the possibilities regarding my relations with real life people.

I do this to the point of where I can shuffle through my imaginary, daydream worlds like cards in a deck according to my mood. At a very bad point in my life, I would do everything I could to be alone so I could jet off to this one place in particular.

I'm too engaged with the outer world now to keep up that kind of intense daydreaming now and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. I do...very much. But I know it's a trap for me...even the mini-trips I take in middle of the night while listening to music...I pay for it with loss of sleep. It would be so easy to go back to withdrawing from everything and everyone and just exist in the spaces of that shuffling deck. As an sp-dom, I'm reclusive enough as it is. Real life beckons and as has been said, very boring. So I try very hard to find little places of wonder in it. It's there...it's just hard for me to discipline myself to have the eyes to see it so that I do not dismiss everyday life as missing something.

[Avocado]

My daydreams are basically comedy central. I laugh all the time. It provides relief from worry.

[Spectre]

I realize this is an old thread but I have come across an interesting video in my "studying" of the concept.

YouTube

I have only seen the beginning of the movie, but the youtube clip hits home for me.

What do you think of it?

[RadicalDoubt]

I realize this is an old thread but I have come across an interesting video in my "studying" of the concept.

YouTube

I have only seen the beginning of the movie, but the youtube clip hits home for me.

What do you think of it?

Ew it's creepy how accurate this is. Idk if I actually have maladaptive daydreaming as an actual disorder, but I definitely daydream excessively to the point where it's difficult to keep up with the real world. This quote was especially accurate:

If you try to have a conversation with me, I can't bring myself to listen to you. I pretend to listen to you and you really think I do but my mind is somewhere else thinking about it... I feel as if I am not here, but I'm not there either, and I can't shake off this feeling of being split in two. ~Anonymous

Ouch, I don't even like quotes.

Idk, I think excessive daydreaming (not necessarily maladaptive) this would be more common among the withdrawn types, though I can see idealistic types (7,1,4) also falling into this category.