Maladaptive Daydreaming

Hello there!
I have maladaptive daydreaming from the very first day off my life, so you are not alone . I have also extremely poor focus, but I can't do anything about it.

I can't really tell if maladaptive daydreaming is compulsion or addiction, but I'm trying to use maladaptive daydreaming as a tool for finding new ideas, because I can't resist the maladaptive daydreaming, and can not control it.

I've tested every drug on this planet, and I would say that stimulants are working a little bit, but I hate the fast growing tolerance and addiction that tolerance can create. A dose of 27mg Ritalin was working for me. I took Ritalin one time a week and got a tolerance after about a month. \_ (°-° )_/
Vyvanse has a better effect because of it's prolonged effect, but I wouldn't recommend any stimulants on a daily basis because of the highly addiction potential and fast growing tolerance.

I just accepted my maladaptive daydreaming cause it's not even in DSM-5 and therefore there are not so many studies and totally no medicines available at all.

 

I wouldn't say that there are places that trigger my MD. My MD is situation dependent; for example, if I perform a task for the first time, I don' t get any MD, but when I learn to do the task automatically, I perform the task automatically while having MD.

My biggest trigger for MD is music and a comfortable setting, but I also easily get MD while running or going to school. So I would say that my mind is having MD all the time, except for the critical "fight or run" situations.

I haven't really tested anti-OCD drugs yet, but I've done Fluoxetine for a period of 3 months without any positive effect.

As I said, I've accepted my MD, but I'm sure that one day I will try to cure my MD as I did one day with my P & M addiction.

 

Man I don't have that "illness" myself but I saw a bunch of stuff about it on Youtube. Have you checked YT out foe useful information on how to stop maladaptive daydreaming?

Also check forums. Maybe there are good books and materials to read.

Also man you should start reaching out to a therapist ASAP. There must be something that can be done.

Do you meditate or do mindfullness meditation? You have to learn to catch yourself in the process and getting out of it as much as you possibly can.

 

- the imagination is a wonderful place for forging new ideas, solving problem, even healing (for example visualizing healing) but sounds like you need a daydream 'diet'

Its not easy but I would imagine the first place is to start practicing mindfulness - don't get frustrated if you don't have success at first but 'mindfulness' simply becoming aware of your surroundings, breathing patterns, ect, will help you jump out of your internal thought loop.

you can also have a healthy day dream - a calming place -set a timer and then come back out of it -this is actually recommended for medical visualization which i had some success with for a couple of disorders.

You say music triggers it but as with drinking and pmo - there is probably a root cause you want to escape into this fantasy world ..so overall reducing anxiety might help.

 

I really believe meditation is the ultimate answer and tool for a lot of our problems (daydreaming, fantasizing, overthinking, anxiety, addiction). It's the ultimate tool to living in the moment and being in our body instead of being lost in thoughts in our heads. It sounds all hippyish and I never ever imagined I'd one day promote meditation man. You gotta try it to believe it. Anyway you'll see it come back so regularly in your search for answers, you'll have to do it sooner or later! I'm talking but I've been failing to consistently meditate lately and it's bad!

 

I've been suffering from maladaptive daydreaming myself. It is a demon which I'm unable to get kill or embrace. I feel more at peace when I'm daydreaming but it also means that I'm disrupting myself from the reality.
People tend to slip into this alternate world when the reality seems to harsh or painful.
I used to daydream a lot as a kid, but it never came on my radar as a problem up until now. Because Now, I daydream an excessive amount of time and I clearly find more solace in my imagination and it is definitely messing up my brain and my life.
Daydreams are tenacious because they provide you with everything you can ever hope for. You can be anything in your fantasies and that is why it gets hard to get rid of it. It is way too pleasurable than your heartbreaking reality. But, if all you're gonna do is watch, then you're gonna watch your whole life go by without you.

There's a movie "Secret life of Walter Mitty", there you can see that the man daydreams a lot because he has a pretty boring and dull life. But when he starts to do the things he never imagined of doing like climbing the Himalayas, having a fight with a shark, cycling and longboarding to a volcano in Iceland and stuff, the daydreams come less often and he is able to live in the reality more. Even his personality changes.

You have to live the life that you want in your reality itself, and the daydreams will start to fade away.
When you start to find solace in your reality your fantasies begin to tarnish. You have to get a grip or you'll forever keep falling in this abyss.
You can start by doing the stuff you love, finding new hobbies, travelling to new places, meeting new people, spending time with friends.
It's because you will always have a void in your life and it is your job to fill that void with stuff you want otherwise it will automatically be filled with negative things like daydreaming or porn.

A bad habit is easy to have but difficult to live with meanwhile, a good habit is difficult to have but easy to live with.

Remember that an idle mind is the devil's workshop.