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Related Posts. Romance scammers: Who they are, what they do, and how you can protect your heart and wallet. Greg Brady met my teenage sister there, and they started dating. The show playing in my head was so detailed and entertaining that it lasted 45 minutes. Another day, I imagined myself as the actress who played the seventh Brady sibling.
I met all the other young actors on the set, and they commented on my cute outfit and amazing acting skills. A few years later, my neighbors saw me pacing with my string and gave me a weird look. I moved my game behind my bedroom door, hiding my imaginings from everyone, including my parents, who believed I had outgrown the activity.
Eventually I learned to daydream without moving. But something was wrong with me. Daydreaming was taking over more and more of my life. I remember being in grade school and feeling pleased that I no longer needed to wait until I got home to watch my favorite soap opera. If I wanted to see Luke from General Hospital come back from the dead and reunite with his girlfriend, Holly, I could watch that reunion in my head, right there in class, and no one would ever know—unless the tears started to flow, in which case I would look around, anxiously praying that none of my classmates had noticed.
If a camp friend told a funny joke, I would find a way to incorporate it into one of my stories, and if a song came on the radio, it would remind me of one of my inner adventures. If I got a good part in the play, I would imagine that an actor on my favorite show had a daughter in the same play and came to watch all of my rehearsals. My life was good the way it was. Why did my characters have to go with me everywhere I went and share in all of my experiences? My mom was a therapist, and my dad was a doctor, so we had a copy of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders on our bookshelf.
When I was 12, four years into my obsessive daydreaming, feeling terribly alone, I scanned the entire volume, hoping to find a description of my problem. No luck. All this would have given me great comfort, except those kinds of daydreams were not my kinds of daydreams. But most psychologists have never heard of maladaptive daydreaming, and it is not officially recognized as a disorder. Many scoff at the idea that a normal activity like fantasizing could cause such distress.
So how can people who believe their daydreaming is out of control receive help? Is maladaptive daydreaming a syndrome in itself, or is it just one manifestation of another affliction? Where does it come from, and how can it be cured? I would pretend the young daughter of Robert, the police commissioner, and Anna, the spy, had grown into a teenage mini-spy who would get into all sorts of adventures, just like her parents.
She was popular, and a fashion icon, like I wanted to be. She could take down a bad guy with one swift kick. I spent every minute on alert, waiting for moments when my friends and teachers would not notice and I could take a peek at my show. I tried to pay attention in school, but unless it was something I truly loved, like drama class, I mostly failed.
Somehow I managed to teach myself what I needed to know the night before the tests, and I would ace them, but up until then I would have little idea what we were covering.
Having spent almost a decade leading a secret, imaginary life, I decided to ask my parents for help. If anyone could tell me what was happening, they could, right? When I finally told them, they tried hard not to laugh and assured me I was normal. These are known as intrusive thoughts. They often seem pretty similar to daydreaming. Intrusive thoughts can happen to anyone from time to time, but they can also be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD.
OCD involves having obsessive thoughts which are basically intrusive thoughts that persist and then having compulsions or rituals to try to get those thoughts out of your head.
I have OCD. So, I try to steer clear of high balconies. The good news is that therapy can address OCD and intrusive thoughts. Nowadays, I experience intrusive thoughts a lot less. Sometimes, dissociation can look like daydreaming. But dissociation is different from daydreaming in a few key ways. If you find yourself emerged in daydreams for most of the time, it might be a case of maladaptive daydreaming. Maladaptive daydreaming is a widely misunderstood psychiatric condition that involves persistent, intense daydreams.
The symptoms include lengthy periods of vivid daydreaming and struggling to carry out day-to-day tasks. Imagination can, in fact, be extremely pleasurable and helpful.
Creating art, finding solutions for practical problems, and even setting goals requires us to use a little imagination. Daydreaming can help you get creative, deeply think about issues, and plan your day-to-day life. Daydreaming can also be a helpful coping tool, Volinsky says. There are some things you can do to address incessant daydreaming.
She also suggests setting aside time in the day to allow yourself to daydream — say, 15 minutes at a time.
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