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Do you have maladaptive daydreaming?

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So dramatic improvements in this area. It's OCD thinking and it can get sneaky but I am getting better and better at busting it. The David Burns podcasts are really great to listen to because they have so much information and it's just not productive for me to let my head go unsupervised at this time. It's really hard but so worth it.
 
Until @chant2012 mentioned it in my diary earlier today I have never heard of "Maladaptive Daydreaming" but I have serious problems with maladapative daydreaming, and whilst writing this post I see someone else has mentioned it before. I also have intrusive thoughts and distorted cognitions as well.

How could I have never heard of it?

Do you have problems with it? What do you do to work to fix yourself?
This is a really old post, but I am a new member and wanted to share because I too experience this.
These are just my opinions and not psychologically proven.
I have done maladaptive daydreaming all my life; my earliest memory is at least 25 years old when I would sit by myself or wander away from home, school, tuition, etc. to avoid being around people.
I have a belief that this starts due to emotional neglect and emotional abuse in our childhood when we don't have anyone to connect to when we feel stressed out, when we need help, when we feel overwhelmed, and so on. Due to the absence of a support person (parent, elder sibling, relative, etc.) we go into our own little world where things are beautiful, amazing, and there are also people who talk to us and we talk to them.
I also get intrusive thoughts which I haven't been able to figure out, but could be due to PTSD and not getting an answer to the millions of questions that arise in our minds. We learn by asking questions, and if we don't have a supportive experienced person in our childhood who can answer all our questions about the world, those questions remain unanswered.
When we grow old, our mind is already programmed not to ask questions because "what's the use". We have more unanswered questions.
Having good conversations with a loving and caring person can reduce the effects over a period of time.
 
This is a really old post, but I am a new member and wanted to share because I too experience this.

Having good conversations with a loving and caring person can reduce the effects over a period of time.
You are not alone! As you can see.

I am glad that you have a strategy that works for you.
 
Smaller steps?

From maladaptive daydreaming, to distracting daydreaming, or productive/delightful daydreaming?
Good idea. I think it was also because I got up at 2am in the morning and did a 8am - 4pm course and then also did another 4 hours study. I was over tired I put myself to bed at about 7pm and slept 10 hours.
 
So I am doing better at this, in a small way, but any improvement is important. If can just stop it 10% that would be good. It wastes a lot of time and energy.
 
Here's an idea. I started w a new T and she has lots of experience with trauma, and keeps up to date on new innovations, etc. Anyway, when she asked me how dissociated I'd feel, (in percent), I couldn't answer her because I hadn't thought of it like that and couldn't make the math fit the behavior......I could gauge it better on a Likert type scale so I went home and wrote one....using my symptoms.

Maybe if you created a Likert scale, and quantified your maladaptive daydreaming behaviors...from least severe to most severe, it would be easier to track. I know with dissociation, I lose time. I'm willing to bet, you might too. Also, keeping track of it in the morning, mid day, and night on paper-giving it a number would be helpful over time to track improvement......I don't know....just a thought.
 
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