Maladaptive daydreaming · 3:42am Dec 5th, 2016
21 years of confusion and I finally figured out what's going on with me.
(Physical Symptoms)
frequent and particular movements accompanying your daydreams such as: pacing, rocking, spinning, holding something in your hands, walking
speaking to yourself and/or making facial expressions while daydreaming
headaches/dizziness after daydreaming
(Changes in Lifestyle)
alienation, loss of friends
lack of basic hygiene or self care for example not eating, not showering, not brushing your teeth or not sleeping right
easily triggered to want to daydream by things such as: music, movies, people, art, stories, shows, etc.
frustration/irritation - with yourself, others, your mental state, etc.
performing research on things you normally wouldn’t to help you form a more realistically accurate daydream
time gets away from you, hours go by unexpectedly because you were caught up in a dream
some daydreamers spend days binge dreaming
trouble with schooling and trouble focusing on reality
(State of Mental Health)
history of psychological trauma or abuse
grief, the recent loss of a loved one (depression and despair)
underlying/accompanying mental disorder such as: anxiety, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, ptsd, etc.
emotional attachments to characters you’ve created in your mind
emotional attachments to people in your reality that you have daydreamed about or based characters in your dreams off of (this can include celebrities)
thoughts of self-harm or suicide stemming from frustration with “dependence” on daydreaming
every single physical symptom is on the dot. I am depressed, I do occasionally have thoughts of suicide-- I hate admitting this but is true. I have never lost friends but I stay in my room and at home a lot doing this. I always had trouble in school because I couldn't focus, mainly because I felt the need to daydream. I do have emotional attachments to characters in my reality. I do take very good care to stay hygienic in present day, but as a teen this was the cause of a very greasy Jeremy with onion colored teeth. He smelled like those teeth too. And boy do the hours fly by when I do this! I really do need therapy. I am going to try and stop this because I am a little more concerned now. Happy I finally figured it out, but concerned.