What to Know About Excessive Daydreaming (2024)

FAQs

What to Know About Excessive Daydreaming? ›

On its own, maladaptive daydreaming isn't dangerous to your physical health. However, it can have a severe impact on your mental health. It also happens alongside conditions that increase your risk of dying from suicide, which means that this condition can increase a person's risk of harming themselves.

Excessive daydreaming is often a way to escape your current circ*mstances. That's why it's more common in people with depression and anxiety. If this becomes your coping mechanism, you might start to lose control of your daydreaming.

The person experiencing maladaptive daydreams does not confuse what is being imagined with reality. Nonetheless, symptoms often cause significant emotional distress and negatively impact a person's daily functioning. Signs of this include: avoiding social interaction and activities.

“I do wonder what she is thinking about.” And yet, on average, we daydream nearly 47% of our waking hours.

As daydreaming is often regarded as inattention, it's commonly associated with ADHD, but excessive daydreaming is also a sign of a condition called maladaptive daydreaming. This too is highly common for students with ADHD.

When Does Fantasizing Become Unhealthy? Sexual fantasies that bleed into real life (and involve actual emotions) are unhealthy, say Dr. Allen. "When you start relating to a fantasy as if it is reality, you are now entering the danger zone," she says.

Daydreaming is a natural behavior. But some people's daydreams are so vivid and frequent that it's easier for them to live in their imagination than in the real world. That's known as maladaptive daydreaming. And it's more common among young adults who struggle with mental health conditions.

But dissociation is different from daydreaming in a few key ways. “Dissociation is when [one] feels physically removed from their body or the place they are in,” Cook says. “Dissociation is connected with the fight-or-flight response and usually only occurs when the person feels overwhelmed or threatened,” she adds.

How to stop fantasizing and daydreaming? ›

Planning can be a form of daydreaming because you spend a lot of time thinking about a situation and not much time accomplishing anything. It's time stop dreaming and start doing! Have a schedule and stick to it. If you find yourself daydreaming, get up and leave the situation or do something productive.

Daydreaming, a form of normal dissociation associated with absorption, is a highly prevalent mental activity experienced by almost everyone. Some individuals reportedly possess the ability to daydream so vividly that they experience a sense of presence in the imagined environment.

Daydreaming Can Help With Overthinking, But There's A Caveat

Usually, daydreams are considered a distraction or a means of escape. However, given how we spend nearly half of our waking hours daydreaming, the ability to wander into a fantasy likely has an important role to play in our overall well-being.

Maladaptive daydreaming is a behavior where a person spends an excessive amount of time daydreaming, often becoming immersed in their imagination. This behavior is usually a coping mechanism in people who have mental health conditions like anxiety.

A therapist might also suggest some useful coping strategies. Taking medications: It is unlikely that someone's maladaptive daydreaming would be severe enough to require medication. However, a drug called fluvoxamine can help ease the symptoms.

Q: Is maladaptive daydreaming a symptom of autism? A: It seems there may be a connection between autism and maladaptive daydreaming. However, MD cannot be classified as a specific symptom of ASD.

An individual with this trait (termed a fantasizer) may have difficulty differentiating between fantasy and reality and may experience hallucinations, as well as self-suggested psychosomatic symptoms. Closely related psychological constructs include daydreaming, absorption and eidetic memory.

Nowadays, daydreaming is known to be a natural, healthy resting state of the brain. Research shows that daydreaming can be used as a tool to help you through your next big decision or deadline.

But there's a darker side to daydreaming than it simply being effortful. When someone spends so much time immersed in their own mind that it disrupts their work, hobbies, or relationships, mental health professionals refer to it as “maladaptive daydreaming,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Another related—but distinct—condition to know about if you chronically make up scenarios in your head is anxiety. Anxiety on its own is a feeling. It tends to be paired with stress, worry, fear, panic, and anticipation. Anxiety is a common human emotion like sadness, anger, or joy, and can be useful at times.