Do you have maladaptive daydreaming?

[ms spock]

I think my maladpative daydreaming is partly because I suppress my creativity - does that express it better? I think that suppressing my creativity is partially causing my maladaptive daydreaming.

Maladpative daydreaming takes over my life and it means I end up not doing much during the day, numbing out, dissociating, depersonalisation and derealisation.

 

[Friday]

@Living in the 70s ... Do you ever sit down and daydream on purpose? As opposed to pushing it aside or being swept up when you don’t want to be? Setting aside a day, or an afternoon, or evening... whenever is a nice big block of time set aside just for that, & just go with it?

If I’m not writing, or in a car staring out a window into infinity, I pretty much just have to go to bed early... because 4 or 7 hours later I’m going to slip from daydreaming into dreaming dreaming. But all 3 are good options for me.

 

[ms spock]

Yes but I go into massively defending myself, having conflicts, managing conflicts, obsessively going through all the permuatations of a situation so I know how to respond properly. It is a kind of torture. I do obsessive fantasising. I go round and around in flight/fight/fawn stuff. I kind of half let myself do it. It feels dangerous. I obsess about what to say to my sister or my family.

 

[ms spock]

This is once again huge and overwhelming. I guess the pattern is fighting back as I am doing so much out of my comfort zone and I am still not comfortable feeling my own feelings or being with my own reality. But gosh I have improved.

 

[Briar Rose]

After being really numb and empty since surgery in November, I am struggling with this again...
Struggling sounds kind of wrong, because it feels so helpful, dreaming away is a big relieve from my depressive thoughts at the moment. But that’s exactly what’s freaking me out because in my real life nothing seems to matter anymore, everything is so broken, and I feel like I am just adding to it. This seems to be the only thing I am able to do right now… Just wanted to tell...

Hope you are doing good @Living in the 70s 🙂

 

[ms spock]

Still struggling with it but doing better overall @Briar Rose

 

[ms spock]

So I actually wasn't in this at all today, which hasn't happened for years for me.

So really that is phenomenal but I would not have noticed that if this thread had not been replied to lately.

So thanks for helping bring that to my attention @Briar Rose.

 

[Marvel545]

Thats great @Living in the 70s :)

I've been up & down with maladaptive daydreaming as of late. I managed to stop for a while, but I think it's a way of coping with stress.

I've found that practicing mindfulness helps a lot.

 

[ms spock]

I am still struggling with it @Marvel545. I did the MBSR course four times and practised for years. It is quite dangerous for people with early childhood trauma, it brought up all that with my 8 week course and I tried to kill myself multiple times. So if you are lucky enough to be able to do it that's great. At the moment Mindfulness can make me much worse.

Maladaptive daydreaming is still a huge problem for me but much less so - after I have been with people I go into it big time. I talk out loud to myself.

 

[ms spock]

I have gone back into this lot since the stuff with my sister stirred up.

 

[Marvel545]

@Living in the 70s I'm glad you can what's triggered it.

 

[ms spock]

This is huge at the moment. I don't know how to deal with success.