Do you have maladaptive daydreaming?

[TruthSeeker]

Well, if it is so positively reinforcing to stay in a place that isn’t real, might be hard to move out into reality?
My bed calls to me... too... but I’m working hard to stay out of the bedroom until 8pm. This is working. Next, I need to move the TV out of the bedroom.

 

[TruthSeeker]

So I am close to getting a whole lot better on this. I just don't want to do the work this wee...

I know this feeling well!

 

[Briar Rose]

I am a daydreamer as well, I can’t remember a time when I hadn’t another life in my head. It was huge in my childhood, and to be honest it was the best way to cope, especially at times when I wasn’t able to walk by myself etc..
These fantasies last till today, even if the content changed there are a few ‘worlds’ I might hop into. I never thought of it as a bad thing, but the last month something changed and it feels on the edge of being maladaptive.
After I got retraumatized I lost my interest in everything, like I completely lost myself and the sense of who i am, the only thing that stayed are the daydreams.
I don’t have many people in my life, always struggled with the loss of friends and loneliness, i worked allot on this with my therapist, but it doesn’t seem to bother me any more... my thoughts made a 180° change!
Now I don’t want anyone in my life any more, I start to seek isolation, lying in bed with music on my headphones and slip into my fantasy worlds. In the last weeks I started to imagine my life if it had been ‘normal’ this is painful but at the same time it’s an escape, like I have given up and decided to live in my head now…
I don’t have energy for real life any more, and life is so much better in my imagination.
I am afraid to hit a point of no return, but I don’t know how to cope with life right now.

 

[ms spock]

Can you do anything to self soothe or assist yourself @Briar Rose?

Do you have a trauma psychiatrist or psychologist?

 

[ms spock]

I am still having this going on, but I am gradually improving!

 

[In Exile]

I day dream a lot. It helps me stabilize, but I wonder if it's too much. I fantasize that I can solve all these problems and such. I know it's a daydream, but I wonder if I'm doing this because of the feelings of needing to be perfect. By solving unsolvable problems, then it allows me to not face the ones I have in front of me.

I'll post more later when I have more time.

 

[In Exile]

I haven't read through the entire thread, but I read the first part and article linked:
Link Removed

It really expresses what I've worried about and what I feel is happening.

This is going to have to come out in bits. This is how I deal with things these days. It's sort of a shock seeing this spelled out this way.

 

[Briar Rose]

@Living in the 70s: I am in therapie again for the last month, my Therapist is a trauma specialist, but I never talked about this with her, because I never saw it as an unhealthy thing. For me it was really great coping strategise, and she encouraged me to use imagination like ‘safe place’ to deal with intrusive thoughts. I am able to let go of my daydreams, but I am feeling a lot worse when I do, guess that’s the problem…
Currently I am trying to focus more on my dog, she is following me the last days when ever I go and it seems to help a bit.

 

[Marvel545]

I am finding that rebuilding my fight response is really helping with my maladaptive daydreaming. I shout at my critic & it seems to be working.

I've wasted most of my life so far stuck in daydreams & I've actually had a couple of weeks without them.

 

[ms spock]

A change of focus sounds good @Briar Rose and focus on your dog sounds interesting, and a few weeks without @Marvel545 day dreaming sounds great! That is quite an achievement.

 

[In Exile]

I was almost quite debilitated some years ago, and then just went on autopilot to get through the things I needed to do, including work. I have gotten a better therapist now, who specializes in trauma and have made a lot of progress. I still have a very difficult time working. I am teaching English in Taiwan. Like a lot of other English teachers, I wasn't trained at all, and I worry so much about it. However, rather than deal with the anxiety, I've been daydreaming to handle the stress.

I'm reading more about MD now. It seems that I have some of the symptoms, but not all of them.

Reading more about it, including the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS) it looks more like I daydream an awful lot, but may not have MD.

 

[ms spock]

Well any tips that you do have @In Exile I would love to hear them. It doesn't matter if you are or are not on any scale. I am interested in hearing how other people are managing their symptoms. It is great that you are making so much progress with your trauma therapist, that is such great news.