I was wondering if anyone else experiences this. Some people find it a problem because it's addicting, but I find it pretty entertaining. Please share your stories and if you would want it treated.
>>17256272
Never heard of this concept before but I'm 21 and I regularly find myself daydreaming pretty hardcore, creating my own worlds and things
>>17256283
Then you probably fall into this category. You can search it up and see if you have any of the symptoms.
>>17256272
I think I do. My mind wonders so badly that I have a hard time focusing on projects or hobbies like video games. Sometimes the dreams incorporate characters from whatever media I've been consuming. And I'll have many mini dreams about how I'd react to something or have fantastical things happen to me.
>>17256310
shut up
>>17256310
Same. It makes it hard for me to concentrate when reading books. Because daydreaming is funner than looking at words on a page. It also messes up my sleeping. I can lay in bed at 9pm and daydream until 2am.
>>17256328
>it hard for me to concentrate when reading books. Because daydreaming is funner
>>17256339
That's funny
>>17256272
ADHD?
Yeah, this, along with porn addiction, has pretty much ruined my life.
>>17256982
>Yeah, this, along with porn addiction, has pretty much ruined my life.
What is will power?
>>17256272
One time on /tg/ there was a corrupt a wish thread and I wished to be a dragon and then spent several hours fantasizing about that. I basically transcribed the fantasy if anyone cares.
>>17257003
If you don't mind sharing your fantasy with a bunch of strangers... go ahead, anon!
Who /pisces/ here?
>>17257013
http://pastebin.com/AjCAcaFg
I can see why it's addicting, if your world is better than this shitfest why would you not want to go there, but there comes at time where you just have to accept it
OP I know exactly what you're talking about. maladaptive daydreaming ate away most of my young life. I was mortified by how I'd cope as an adult, but I've learned how to restrict that kind of daydreaming to certain activities-- instead of pacing a room like I used to, I can instead go for a walk or do chores, etc. it's no longer an issue for me as an adult but I remember when it dominated my life
believe I'll always have the inclination toward losing myself in that world, because it's hard to describe just how intoxicating it is to non-sufferers, but I never want it to interfere with my real life again. there's so much I could have accomplished if I hadn't spent so much time in my head. for people who don't have this disorder-- daydreaming for us is not the same experience as it is for other people. it's almost something entirely separate, and it can feel like a dopamine rush when you get too deep.
there isn't much research on the subject, but it's very real and potentially life-ruining. there's some really depressing stuff out there when you find forums for sufferers and see posts by people who are in their 40s or 50s realizing that they've spent their whole lives in their heads, and they can't will themselves out of it. there's a quality to it that causes you to isolate, and that leads to some really sad stories
>>17257187
That's interesting. The only time it gets scary for me is when I run out of things to daydream about before I go to sleep. I get anxiety and can't fall asleep. So i have to try and make up a dream.
>>17257187
Oh shit, I pace doing it too. I thought I was the only one.
Fuck.
So that's what's wrong with me.
>their 40s or 50s realizing that they've spent their whole lives in their heads
I'm in my 30s and already feel this way.
>>17257187
What forums I wanna read
>>17256272
I probably started daydreaming when I started highschool and some people started bullying me, I really needed to scape for a while. The worst days I would stay the whole class looking at nothing imagining myself somehere else. Nowadays I still daydream a lot, but I've managed to reduce it just to some specific moments, like when I'm walking alone, when I don't have anything else to do or right before sleeping, and when I do daydream I try not to do it for a long time... but it's like a drug, it relaxes you, it takes you away, many times I have thought that those worlds are better than this shitty boring world (but that happens only in high stress moments)
>>17257187
I also pace a lot, specially when I'm alone in my bedroom, fucking hell, I even move my hands around, say out loud what I'm "saying" and react to the things that happen in my worlds. This is the first time I have heard of this dissorder.
>>17256272
Ask Ulillillia
I have stared at a white blank wall for days and days in a row
I have had DID or MPD
Music brings me to where i need to be, and movies
So alone, me and my dog.
this is me exactly. fuck.
Now I'm super depressed lol
>>17256272
Yume Nikki is sort of about this but with dreams while asleep all day.
>>17256272
It feels like I've spent most of my life daydreaming.
Even when I was five, I had an overactive imagination and lived in my dreams more than reality.
I adore daydreaming about things I want to draw or write.
Unfortunately, I can never make it static, which makes drawing difficult, and writing nearly impossible since replaying the same scene will never truly have the same result.
It is funny that whenever I daydream about myself, I enjoy daydreaming about dying in horrific ways.
I'm always the antagonist in my own daydreams, and it never ends well for me.
I adore music and this... music just makes my daydreams go crazy, and I have a hard time keeping it all just in my head.
Kinda like I just want to get it out in any way, write it out, draw it, or just let it play out in my head as an audience member.
My head is pretty empty bros so it's a real treat when I can daydream.
Calling imagination a sickness is really weird and wrong.
>>17257881
So you're in a desert dying of thirst, these people are drowning, and you're wondering what they're complaining about?
>It might be related to childhood emotional neglect or abuse that motivate victims to divorce from the threatening world and from their material entity.[2]
Makes sense.
A part of me wants to stop it, but it's been such a coping technique to analyze and "mentally digest" situations that have happened to me. But, fuck it. I'm gonna try going a day without it and then try a week. Wish me luck, bros.
>>17258422
I tried to do that once anon and honestly it would take a lot of self restraint. You might not even realize you're doing it again. That's what happened to me anyway
I'm not sure if I like my inner world and characters more than reality because I was abused or because I'm Venus and Mars in Pisces.
shit i've never heard of this before and i'm a psychology junkie, i definitely fall into this category. I bet its mainly co morbid w trauma and depression. thanks op
i've had some made up characters in my head for years that i fantasize talking to or hanging out with, they're very detailed considering i've spent most of my life 'with' them (they've changed and adapted to my ideals though, so they are perhaps slightly mary-sueish)
fuck its like having an imaginary friend but you have to keep it a secret because its fucking embarrassing lol
>>17258635
my venus is in pisces too, but my sun and moon are aries
>>17256272
When I was a little kid I'd daydream all day long. Really uncreative daydreams though, I'd just think about a character or a situation I saw on tv or a movie and replay the same scene over and over again. If I were doing something in real life I'd fantasize I was somewhere else, like on long car trips I'd fantasize I was being kidnapped and shipped to a faraway land.
When I was kid I was practically incapable of paying attention to the plot of something on tv, I'd just vaguely look at the characters, etc. and then make up my own plot. Or I wouldn't like the plot and I'd pretend it was something else.
I was that way until middle school, when I started getting crushes, then I was obsessed with that instead.
These days I waste my life away playing video games way too much, and oversleeping. This reality is so boring, and I have no place in it.
>>17258550
I started after making that post and I do notice I'm drifting back into it a little bit but not a full on daydream. I'm gonna allow the "drifting" for the meantime but the next time, no drifting. Also, I made a promise to myself that every time I catch myself in a full on daydream during these 24 hours, I'll do either 50 push ups or 200 squats. I really can't do much of either so even if I lose, I'll lose in more positive way than chastizing myself with guilt. The main thing I am noticing in this is that I'm more aware of my surroundings. Things always felt a bit hazy when I allowed daydreaming but this feels like a cup of coffee made with an energy drink. It's pretty interesting.
I dont exactly know what is maladaptive daydreaming is but one day in my room I pick one of donut from the box and start to eat it. After few glances I realizes there is no donut box anywhere in my room.
This happen more often when I try to check date and I found out the date is 1-3 days early than it was supposed to be or maybe my eyes just failing on me.
>>17256272
there was a long feature about dreaming and daydreaming in the radio last saturday. it said that people spend up to 50% of the day (!) with daydreaming. The average time of daydreaming is 10-15 seconds, though.
sauce: http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ein-lange-nacht-der-traeume-von-der-faszination-innenwelt.704.de.html?dram:article_id=337780 You can hear it (it's German) or translate the excerpts transcript.
I think it's rather difficult to draw a line between this condition and common behavior.
I usually use my daydreams for writing and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Sometimes it's just the same, writing and daydreaming.
I always thought that this is actually one source of creativity. Do artists tend to daydream?
from wikipedia
> Often maladaptive daydreamers will have 'triggers'… books, movies, music, and even riding in a car.
I though this is rather normal.
> Maladaptive daydreamers also may have trouble getting out of bed or going to sleep, due to the want to continue daydreaming.
I did this as a teenager, but teenagers do love to sleep.
> Often times while maladaptive daydreamers are daydreaming they will whisper, talk, make facial expressions, or do some sort of repetitive movement.
this is more interesting. I make facial expressions, but I also do it, when I'm painting pictures. The brain tends to mimic those things.
> They often have elaborate fantasies within their minds, often comparable to a complete novel or movie. Many have more than one fantasy in their mind, each with its own characters, setting, plots, etc. Maladaptive daydreamers may become emotionally attached to their characters as well, though they know the characters are not real.
totally sounds like a typical author
> Recurrent themes may include:
> Idealized self
> Violence, Power and control
> Captivity
> Rescue and escape
classical tropes
> Sexual arousal
well…
>>17259491
I think a key difference between maladaptive daydreaming and regular daydreaming would be whether or not it interferes with ones life. Think of it almost like an addiction and it makes a little more sense I guess, when you begin to forgo normal behaviours because you elect to daydream it may be a problem. Especially if it's triggered by something and goes on fr an hour or so at a time.
As far as an artist is concerned, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a link to such daydreaming and creativity, it certainly takes a measure of it to come up with such elaborate fantasies. The difference here to me would be the artists ability to channel these daydreams into something, where the maladaptive is simply content to daydream and keep these dreams to himself.
Do you think maladaptive daydreaming has a connection with lucid dreaming?
My regular dreams (when I'm actually asleep) seem to be getting more vivid and interactive. I can still remember dreams I had years ago. Most of them make no sense but it's always in first person and I get to think and choose what to say and stuff. So I was wondering if too much maladaptive daydreaming has something to do with this.
>>17256272
Huh, I didn't know there was a name for this. I don't know if I have this as I wouldn't say it negatively effects me much as far as I know, but I daydream all the time and I tend to follow stories and characters I create for months at time, building up detailed worlds. The main character of the story I've been following for the past few months died recently, it was sad.
I'm >>17259567
>>17258666
>they've changed and adapted to my ideals though, so they are perhaps slightly mary-sueish
I know how that feels, the stories I'm making in my head may be fun to fantasize about, but they'd suck as stories if I wrote them down.
>>17257187
>>17257489
>>17257589
I also tend to pace around quite a bit. When I catch myself I try to stop it and focus that energy on something else. As for finding places to do it, I like to go on walks and hikes a lot, and last year I started endurance running. I've found I can space out for hours at a time while running.
>>17259548
I don't know if it connects, but I'm a big lucid dreamer. I never had to learn methods to do it, lucid dreaming just came naturally to me, and my normal dreams are still fantastic adventures rather than common stuff.
my world is pretty baws. i just say stuff and world leaders and economist disagree if they dare only to within 6 months they will be proven wrong
so far i have only found minor anomalies. i think i haz a trespasser in muh wurld but they weak sauce
I just read a bit about this, and I think I'm starting to go down this path. Don't know if I should be worried or not.
>>17260169
As long it doesn't become an addiction is fine.
Is actually a good way to relieve from stress and a goos source of inspiration, just keep it in check how much you do this.
I don't see it as an entirely negative thing... it's a creative outlet for me, and it's something fun to pass the time when I'm bored. I think of it like a program that's constantly running in the background that I can access or ignore at will. My daydreams also sort of act as a way of self-medicating my Pure-O*, giving the Pure-O something to focus on and tear apart without doing any actual damage to my psyche - it's kinda like giving a dog a bone to chew on so that it doesn't go after the furniture. I don't want to stop daydreaming entirely, but I do feel like I should cut back somewhat, and focus more on my IRL friends.
That being said, I can't imagine what it would be like to be someone who can't shut it off at all, and is trapped in it nonstop for months/years at a time.
* Pure-O = Primarily Obsessional OCD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primarily_obsessional_obsessive_compulsive_disorder)
Isn't this just a form of escapism? It's not even recognized as a real disorder.
I do this all the time and im not sure if it negatively effects my life or not really. Like I sometimes catch myself acting out my fantasy or mouthing words in public and people look at me like I'm crazy. If I'm not having to focus on something right at hand I'm daydreaming with no exceptions.
>>17256272
So this is more vivid and more coherent than regular daydreaming? Sign me up, please. I wish I could do that.
>>17256283
>Never heard of this concept before but I'm 21 and I regularly find myself daydreaming pretty hardcore, creating my own worlds and things
inb4 autism
>>17263877
What sort of world are you following currently? I'm interested in hearing about other peoples worlds and characters, I've only met one other person other than myself who does this kind of thing.
[1/2]
I know i suffer from this, but for me its a defensive response to the harsh, boring and cold world that exists outside of my head.
When i was a child (4-6yrs old) i used to play the same daydream over and over again, with very small variations each time. I talked, mimiced and moved my body around to match my daydreams too.
I would spend an hour each day daydreaming, picking off where i left the day before and have vivid dreams too. Lucid dreaming comes natural to me.
In preschool (6-7) i would sit and stare out of the window for most of the time, being in my head, and school (7-14) i doodled and played scenarios out in my head, i started drawing because i wanted to express the vivid images i had in my mind.
In the weekends i would lay in bed and contemplate going to watch cartoons in the morning (episodes which i might have seen before) or daydreaming (episodes i could make new ones of) and it was usually 50/50.
Many of the worlds i have created have entire historical timelines, some ceased to exist, others flourished, and several characters get incarnated throughout the years.
The daydreams help me cope with emotional stress or help me understand consequences of actions. The emotion i experience in these 'dreams' are as close to real as they could ever get. Regardless of them having never happened in the real world, they still hold so many lessons and moral stories, they have helped me set my life into perspective and become more empathetic towards others, because i have lived through so many lives in my head that have experienced the world in so many wondrous ways.
[1/2]
>>17263960
[2/2]
I can stay up to a whole day in bed (if not more) daydreaming large-scale scenarios and arks of important stories.
I don't see any of these things as negative. The negative side-effects are my lack of focus. I cannot keep focus on tasks such as writing, schoolwork, reading, because my frontal lobe is constantly overly-active. There is a need for the instant gratification that comes when going into my mind. So when doing a big task i often just stop and cannot continue unless i fidget with something. I suffer from trichotillomania, so its hairpulling/hairplucking. The instant gratification of plucking helps immerse me in the world, when i was little it used to be swinging.
>>17261608
They are more than just daydreams, they are your second reality. Fully knowing its only in your head, you choose to seek them out regardless. For me, this happened because i was insanely bored with the real world. It did not offer the same amazing madness that the world in my mind could.
[2/2]
>>17259522
>I think a key difference between maladaptive daydreaming and regular daydreaming would be whether or not it interferes with ones life.
That's interesting, because my daydreams often remind me to do my chores or to behave…
>>17259548
> Do you think maladaptive daydreaming has a connection with lucid dreaming?
I would say yes, because you would recognize your dream-themes.
> more vivid and interactive
yes, it's interesting how it evolves
I see myself mostly as a third person
>>17256272
>do this whit all the time when im alone
damn i never really thought it might be more well defined than just daydreaming about random shit.
do most people not have power fantasies/shit like that? I always figured it was a normal thing for normal, squishy humans with no long term significance.
Doesn't give me issues, but I've noticed the I do it more if I feel bad/guilty/upset about something in the real world
>>17257020
???? this is actually pretty good?
Clean it up a bit, work on adding structure to dialogue and maybe flesh out some of the characters more and you have decent book.
I mean you add reasons to why the man is slaying the dragon- and it's not the cliche " Ooh it's big and I don't like it.". You actually made a backstory for vengeance based on economic disparity... which is clever because while the dragon is not a hoarding lizard like usual, but actually involved in controlling trade and the financial wellness of a kingdom. It's different and because of that it grabs my attention.
I would read it. I love dragons. Wish I could build a world like that in my head!
>>17257842
I feel that :/
I can't really color and create a whole structured world and keep it long enough in my head to record it visually or verbally... but I have images that sort of fly through my mind that are vibrant and whimsical.
Especially when I listen to music I can imagine the cinematography for a video... and while it's a very fun ride for me, it's over as soon as it begins and out of my head forever...
Makes me sad because I really would like to create something out of it.
>>17256272
I've been having an extensive daydream that involves a duo of sisters who perform music. In the dream they're local celebrities on the brink of success and attend the high school I graduating from.
It usually happens when I'm listening to music. I think it's just my subconscious desires to be a famous recording artist manifesting itself by way of daydreaming. The only upside to this is I believe I've become better at spotting actual "star appeal" because of it, and want to start a record label one day where I help create such artists.
This is really the only time I've ever expressed this. It's definitely a problem for me because I lose all mental energy to think about actual productive things.
>>17257187
>it can feel like a dopamine rush when you get too deep.
>mfw adrenaline rush after imagining I just did something badass
Daydreaming is part of me. I'm not sure when it started, but I was a lonely kid. I had no friends at school (I wasn't bullied either), my parents always were working, I was poor so I had no toys or TV or videogames or books, so I daydreamed. Also my life is awful, I was raped and stuff so all I had was daydream.
When I heard about this, I thought it was bullshit, but fuck.
>>17259491
>repetitive movement
This, fucking this, usually I just repeat the same scenes, but when I walk around the table of my house I can focus and I could write a book with all the things I daydream about. When I do that it's lineal and chronologic.
Anyway, how is this paranormal? I think it's just a mental disorder.
>>17256997
>will power
>4chan
;^)
Ok so who's been able to beat it? Will nootropics help?
Wow, didn't think this was a thing. I did it for several years when I was young. It was like fantastical video gamey adventures, it was pretty autistic. Also waifus were involved.
>>17265391
I think at some point I realized I spent too much time doing it. Whenever I started thinking about, I would just remind myself how much of a waste of time it was.
>>17264751
Thanks anon. It was part of a larger book I wrote for NaNoWriMo, but I appreciate the thought of turning it into a stand alone novel
>>17257842
are you Pisces/Aries cusp?
