Remember how your favorite song would come on when you were a kid, and you would imagine you were in a music video? Or how in class you would imagine wild scenarios in your head? We all can relate because everyone daydreams from time to time, but some people daydream more than others. You may think you daydream a lot (how else would you get through math class?), but there is such a thing as chronic daydreaming where people daydream for hours. This is called maladaptive daydreaming, which is not an official disorder yet, but it has gained recognition that may lead to it becoming one. Maladaptive daydreaming is a type of daydreaming that replaces other interactions, such as talking, eating and academic life. It is related to compulsive disorders because people with this have the compulsive need to always daydream, even if that means missing out on activities or having their grades suffer.
According to Professor Eliezer Somer, maladaptive daydreaming can be caused by triggers, such as conversations, physical experiences and sensory stimuli. Basically, anything that happens in your day-to-day life can trigger daydreaming episodes. As hard as it sounds to live with this, it is not a part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, nor does it have any form of cure or treatment. You may be like most people assuming it's not a disorder, but that's a dangerous one. This is unlike regular daydreaming because it's characterized as more intense, with symptoms including: story-like daydreams, inability to complete tasks, having triggers, the compulsive need to daydream, difficulty sleeping, daydreaming for long periods of time, having repetitive movements and making faces while fantasizing. Making it a bit more than just getting lost in thought on a dull day.
Professionals are not sure what causes maladaptive daydreaming. This makes it hard for people to be diagnosed. Comparing your experiences to the symptoms is not enough. Even though daydreaming for hours to the point where you neglect regular daily tasks is not normal, it still can't be concluded that you have it. That is why it is so important for this to be recognized as a real disorder. Professor Somer developed a 14-part scale for detecting the disorder. In the scale, they measured the intensity of the daydreaming by recording yearning, kinesthesia and impairment. This scale allows the condition to be better understood and characterized as an actual disorder. Hopefully this is a step towards understanding this condition to the fullest.
Maladaptive daydreaming can be misinterpreted as a form of psychosis, since sufferers of schizophrenia cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy. But unlike psychosis, people with maladaptive daydreaming understand they are daydreaming. You might think this makes it less of a burden to live with, but according to a study of 447 individuals from 43 different countries, it was found that maladaptive daydreaming is associated with "obsessive-compulsive behavior and thoughts, dissociative absorption, attention deficit, and high sense of presence during daydreaming." This could be why they say it can lead to recognized disorders such as OCD, ADHD and depression.
Maladaptive daydreaming may not be a recognized condition, but it is worth the research that psychologists are putting into it. There is even a help forum to assist people who believe they are suffering from it. The whole concept of maladaptive daydreaming really puts drifting off in class into perspective; people will never think you daydream too much again.
