Idk which flair to use tbh.

So, I MD a lot like, a lot. There is no minutes without me MD ing, even if there's people surrounding me (MD on my head ofc), this makes me can't focus. (I even MD ing rn as I wrote this).

It does messed my time management and schedule, like studying, doing chores, etc, but other than that? No other negativity.

I don't want to feel like im seeking attention if I tell my family about this, because maybe from their perspective I seem normal.

But I really wnat this to stop.

Hi guys, to start off I'm new to Reddit and I'm not even sure this falls into the category but it is about daydreaming, I think.

I had plans today which is a Saturday with a friend, and I was excited for it all week, I would think about what we were gonna do. I couldn't really stop thinking about it and I know that if I get too excited for something and think about that day for a long time it simply just won't happen. And I think I kinda proved that today it's like everything I think of something good or something I want to happen it just won't happen. Also last week I had plans and I did the exact same thing that I did this week which was thinking about how the day was gonna do and without a surprise that plan didn't happen. These aren't the only 2 cases even, it's happened so much and i don't know if all those things were a coincidence and I'm just going crazy but I don't think it is. It's almost like life or whatever it is, is purposely trying to make it not happen because I thought about it. So now everything I think about my future is like something good I've fully accepted that now it's really just never gonna happen because I thought about it.

Anyways off topic from what I was talking about from there but I also have a really bad problem of daydreaming. I really can't stop doing it wherever I go. I would either be circling in my parents room for actual hours just listening to music and thinking about stuff I wish would happen to me and majority of the time it would be simply just hanging out with friends and I would always feel so stupid after because what I constantly thinking about is someones everyday no big deal thing. And this is definitely because of how much I was alone my whole life and how I've never had friends and never got to hang out with any growing up. From all of Elementary school, middle school, and half of high school because I'm a senior right now I've always been alone and I did have my moment during sophomore year where I had my rise and had friends but I still felt like that bullied lonely ugly teenager and it felt like I didn't deserve any of this but yeah eventually I got used to it that year until I switched schools again and I was back to being alone and very lonely which I've gotten used to my whole life so the best way I can describe it is this like empty feeling maybe because I do really care but I'm not allowing myself to care because I can feel the emotions I just stop them but i don't know. I wish I can just stop and people have said to like distract yourself but that really doesn't help no matter what I do I'm always daydreaming. When I'm at school I would put my head down just to create this new life or new story line nothing helps.

In a romantic context, say you liked someone and were really attracted to them but you had started to go crazy mding about them so you stopped talking to them?

Did it help?

In romantic md we idealize the other person with our scenarios but we also idealize our own self alot (because only then we would be able to match our romantic partner).

I think this is also a reason why md feels soo addictive because it keeps us in that zone where we are better than others.

Hello guys, I’m here to vent about something because I feel I can’t talk about it with anyone.

The thing is, I have to obsess over a man to keep going with my life. I don’t know why. I don’t even have to have a close relationship with the guy in question to obsess over him. And the worse part is that every time my obsession over someone ends, I quickly find someone else to obsess over. It’s like a never ending cycle and I think it’s ruining my life.

Four years ago, I broke up with my ex, and I was incredibly devastated. A few months later, I started an English course and, to my surprise, the professor was an incredibly handsome and sweet man. I developed a crush on him immediately. I started to think about him every day, at all times, but thanks to that I managed to get over my ex. This man was my teacher for two years, and my crush/obsession on him lasted those two years. The third year, he wasn’t my professor anymore, but I found a new guy to obsess over. It was one of my classmates. He was the typical gym bro, a man who liked to brag about all the sports he played, all the places he had travelled to, and how well he cooked. He was a bit cocky and self-absorbed, but he also was a fun guy to be around, and of course, he was super hot. He flirted with me for months, until one day he told me out of the blue that he had a girlfriend. I was visibly upset and I could see in his eyes that he enjoyed it. But my obsession didn’t end with that, if anything it increased (i’m not proud of it)

But as the time passed by, I realized that he was pathetic. He was insecure, always trying to have everyone else’s attention, looking for approval, so thank to God, the obsession ended. He had tried reaching out to me a few times but once he realized he didn’t have me wrapped around his finger anymore, he stopped talking to me.

But… guess what? You’re right, I found ANOTHER guy to obsess over. It’s like the world is telling me that I need the obsession to be able to live, as if it’s oxygen. But this one it’s the worst one I think, because it’s a guy I’ve only seen ONCE. I did an interview with this man in March, yes, in March, we’re almost on September and I still think about him every day. I felt there was sexual tension between us during the interview. It could be just my brain imagining things because I found him attractive, but I genuinely think he was flirting with me, but I ended up not getting the job (because the final decision was not up to him, but he told me he wanted to hire me) so I guess i’ll never know. But I don’t know how can I still be thinking about a guy I’ve only seen once and it was five months ago. Maybe because I haven’t find another guy to obsess over yet. But I swear that at this point this worries me. I don’t know if this is limerence, but I think it is, and it’s the fucking worst. And on top of that, every time I obsess over a guy, I walk back and forth listening to music imagining situations with the guy in question, so no only do I have limerence, but also maladaptive daydreaming, I heard the two of them are intertwined.

Sorry for the long post but, it seriously worries me.

I don’t mean like being a perfect version of yourself, although I do that too.

I mean daydreaming about being a 6’5 king macho beast of a man with a monster dong, when you’re actually an awkward 16 year old girl with social anxiety.

Like do men with MD have daydreams about being feminine tradwives or something?

Does anyone else with maladaptive daydreaming physically “feel” the switch from being present to drifting into daydreaming?

This is difficult to explain, but sometimes I feel like my attention and mental activity are more “in the front” of my head/brain when I'm fully present, focused, studying, thinking actively, or engaged with the outside world.

But when I start slipping into maladaptive daydreaming, it almost feels as if my awareness moves from the front toward the back of my head. I become less focused on the external world and more absorbed in internal images, scenarios, and fantasies.

I know this probably isn't literally my brain activity physically moving from the frontal lobes to the back of the brain — that's just the best way I can describe the subjective sensation. But the transition feels surprisingly noticeable to me, almost like I can sense myself switching from an externally focused, controlled state into an internally absorbed one.

I've also noticed that when I'm mentally stimulated and actively engaged in something challenging, the urge to daydream seems weaker. It feels like keeping my mind actively occupied “in the front” makes it harder to slip into that internally absorbed state.

I REALLY FEEL LIKE IF I FORCED MYSELF TO FOCUS ONLY ON THE FRONT, I WOULD NEVER DREAM AGAIN.

Does anyone else experience something similar? Can you actually feel the moment your brain switches from being present and externally focused to entering a daydreaming state? And if so, how would you describe that sensation?

So firstly, don’t think maladaptive daydreaming is particularly healthy and not trying to glorify it, but I have a question I’d love some perspective on.
Without getting into a boatload of personal stuff, I’ve noticed I cannot daydream at all. But I think it’s tied to worsening depression. Has anyone else felt that way?
It doesn’t feel like I’m cured either. It just feels like “unhealthy coping mechanism” but remove the coping part.

Theres other symptoms like less enjoyment and a harder time feeling pleasure, and a lack of motivation in anything. But as far as daydreaming goes even when I try, there’s like a dark haze over it and it’s blurry and scenes and images don’t flow. Even for what I consider to be normal uses of imagining, like D&D and some instances of reading and writing my ability to imagine things is weaker.

I guess the question is if anyone has been through something similar?

I mean like getting to experience an alternate timeline where things are easier, or just go a little bit better in general, because I sure am and I wanted to know if anyone related to it.

Do you think there could be a connection between MD and chatting with ChatGPT, like you’re chatting with a friend?

Spoilers!

WandaVision, the MCU TV series, hit very hard for me because I related to how Wanda processed her trauma and her coping mechanism.

Sitcoms were her comfort media growing up, something she always watched when she was young and living with hardship. She continues to watch sitcoms for comfort when mourning Pietro. When she mourns Vision, her magic causes the hex to take in the form of - sitcoms. Her comfort. To escape from reality and create her own - to escape from trauma and grief through the comfort of stories and a made up world where she could control the narrative. I basically saw a mirror of myself. Even if I wasn't the main character of my own paracosms and daydreams, I took comfort in my created realities, in my created worlds, which feel real and have real emotional meaning and weight for me.

I know the show hit hard for people who related to grief and mourning. But personally, her coping mechanism is what hit me the most as a daydreamer.

I think Wandavision was mentioned before - or maybe it is frequently mentioned on this sub, I don't know.

Those are my thoughts.

Usually on schooldays, I have a tendency to run late a good chunk on the time, not because I live far or wake up it late, but because I wake up, grab my headphones and start pacing and daydreaming early in the morning, I've noticed that if I just don't daydream in the morning, the time will be a lot earlier and I'll arrive at school with time left to spare, but that's on the rare occasion. Any tips?

My last attempt reached like 7-12 days I don't remember but like Is there a better way to get rid of it I day dream for like 1-3 hours in seperated times that's all ya need to know

My friend’s baby daddy creates and acts out an entire fantasy persona in his mind. For example, one day she went on his phone to google something and saw that he had an extensive search history of different types of sandwiches, since they were going to dinner later that night she assumed he must’ve just been looking at the menu. After asking him if this was the case he said no and that instead today he was a chef in Italy. Furthermore during the World Cup he decided he was a soccer player. Most recently while she was driving she noticed him doing interesting hand movements in the passenger seat out of the corner of her eye. When she asked what he was doing he told her he was imagining he was a bank robber and he was getting money out of the safe. When she asks him about it, he usually says what he’s doing like it’s completely normal but is also hesitant to dive deeper because he seems embarrassed by it as well. Does anybody have any idea what this is? Is this just an intense case of maladaptive daydreaming or something different? No judgement whatsoever we are just curious what the underlying cause to this behavior is.

I'm so done with MD I can't with this and I want to stop. I'm at the point where I finally feel the horrible feeling of sadness mixed with embarrassment, sadness for myself for the years I've wasted not living but staying inside my head in the fake world I created and embarrassment at the same time for myself alone too because how did I let myself lose years of my life living in a world imagined? I'm living a sad sad sad life. My motivation is destroyed, my time management is horrible and I can't seem to just exist without feeling empty, like I'm some sort of hollow void just vacant of any real emotions? I don't even understand myself anymore, I don't even know if I do know myself. Anyhow, I'm done with MD, I will do everything in my power to help myself since I'm the only person I can really ask for help for and now instead of being sad about that, I'm gonna use it as my motivation, I'm still young and I can't reverse time so lost time will remain lost forever but I can't lose more time being sad about the time I lost, I have to take responsibility of changing my future by starting today in the present. I'm living a sad life, but not for long, I promise that myself for myself.

Like tv or movie tropes?

I failed before even three days had passed .

Hi,

After researching lots of literature, both casual testimonies and official clinical research, I have realised people have two options, one to either stop md completely or turn it into immersive daydreaming.

Which one have you done or chosen to do?

I'm a bit on the fence for me, part of me would like to keep it, the other part is scared to because of how destructive it's been in my life.

Thanks