Lost in Wonderland: Maladaptive Daydreaming
Some individuals need to escape off into a dream-like state so to protect themselves from their painful or distressing realities. Unfortunately, this way of coping can become a vicious cycle, leaving people stuck
Maladaptive daydreaming is a psychiatric condition that features intense daydreaming so to distract the individual from their everyday life. Someone who experiences maladaptive daydreaming may have extremely vivid daydreams featuring various characters, settings, plots, as well as other story-like details and experiences (Cirino, 2018). Experts explain that maladaptive daydreaming usually occurs as a coping mechanism in response to trauma, abuse or loneliness. The individual creates a complex inner world which they can escape to in times of distress, with triggers often being real-life events such as topics of conversation, sensory stimuli such as noises or smells, or physical experiences (Tapu, 2016; Cirino, 2018).
This disorder can impact one’s ability to complete everyday tasks as well as get adequate sleep. Sufferers may perform repetitive movements whilst daydreaming, during which they may make varied facial expressions, in addition to whispering and talking to themselves (from an outsider’s perspective). Someone with this disorder may experience an overwhelming desire to continue daydreaming and may continue to do so for many minutes and even hours (Cirino, 2018). This greatly affects the individuals daily life, impedes upon their ability to function adequately (such as maintaining hygiene practises), and can also damage their relationships, as sufferers can favour the characters in their daydreams over their real families and friends (Tapu, 2016; NPR, 2018).
This nature of daydreaming was first identified by Professor Eliezer Somer and is recognised by many experts as being a real disorder, despite not being featured in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) (Cirino, 2018). Due to the lack of understanding around this disorder, mental health professionals often misinterpret a client as instead experiencing schizophrenic hallucinations, having psychosis, ADHD, or decide that the individual simply has an “overactive imagination” (Tapu, 2016). The key difference between disorders such as psychosis and maladaptive daydreaming, however, is that the individual is aware that their daydreams are not real and are simply figments of their imagination (Tapu, 2016).
Around 2002, Professor Eliezer Somer investigated dissociating behaviour and how daydreaming can become an addiction. Eliezer found that some individuals needed to escape off into a dream-like state so to protect themselves from their painful or distressing realities and that this way of coping can become a vicious cycle as sufferers become significantly more attached to their fantasies and dependent upon the characters they create. It is thought that maladaptive daydreamers may share similarities with “problematic Internet gamers”, who play games to avoid real-life difficulties and live out fantasies and alternative identities through their games (Ballabio et al., 2017). These mental creations and faux-realities provide the individual with “escapism” from their real lives, which can be fun, freeing, and harmless - but to maladaptive daydreamers, these creations can be massively detrimental and can even lead them to feel powerless to control or stop them (Bigelsen and Schupak, 2011).
Without proper medical recognition of this disorder, symptoms and behaviours have been wrongly treated as if they are due to neural biochemical imbalances, rather than an addictive and pervasive coping mechanism. With the aetiology not being fully understood, effective treatment methods remain unavailable and the disorder continues to be misdiagnosed and symptoms misattributed. What is known, is that maladaptive daydreaming has several comorbidities, including dissociative disorders (Colin et al., 2020); and as such requires further attention in both research and clinical practice. Further research, improved diagnostic tools, and treatment methods are needed not just to help the individual live a less distressing life grounded in reality and real pleasures, but to also assure them and their loved ones that they are not alone in their suffering; that maladaptive daydreaming is a real “thing”, that the phenomena does have a name, and that many people experience this too. Maria Tapu (2016) explains in her BPS article that many suffers believe that they are “the only person with this thing” and are consequently living in isolation. Without common understanding and awareness of the phrase “maladaptive daydreaming”, it is near impossible for individuals to find places for support.
If you are struggling with maladaptive dreaming, or know someone that does, there is support out there – despite the phenomena not being fully recognised yet:
You can access Dr Somer’s YouTube channel for information and support
You can connect with other people who share the same experience, through an online community called ‘Wild Minds Network’
You can also search through ‘The Dreaming Place’, a website dedicated to everything concerning maladaptive dreaming
References
Cirino. E., (2018). Maladaptive Daydreaming [online]. Healthline. [Viewed 23 August 2021]. Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/maladaptive-daydreaming
NPR., (2018). When Daydreaming Gets In The Way Of Real Life | Invisibilia | NPR [online]. YouTube. [Viewed 23 August 2021]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckYSydGYKRU
Pietkiewicz, I., Nęcki, S., Banbura, A., Tomalski, R., (2018). Maladaptive daydreaming as a new form of behavioral addiction. Journal of Behavioral Addictions [online]. 7(3). [Viewed 23 August 2021]. Available from: 10.1556/2006.7.2018.95.
Ross, C. A., Ridgway, J., George N., (2020). Maladaptive Daydreaming, Dissociation, and the Dissociative Disorders. Psychiatric Research & Clinical Practice [online]. 2(1), 53-61. [Viewed 23 August 2021]. Available from: doi: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20190050
Tapu, M., (2016). Maladaptive daydreaming [online]. The Psychologist BPS. [Viewed 23 August 2021]. Available from: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-29/december-2016/maladaptive-daydreaming