The term ‘maladaptive daydreaming’ was coined by Eli Somer, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Haifa. He defined it as ‘extensive fantasy activity that replaces human interaction and/or interferes with academic, interpersonal or vocational functioning.’ Somer focussed on six patients in his initial research who had severe difficulty in social and work functioning. They had all experienced aversive early life experiences such as abusive childhoods and coped with this by escaping reality into a dissociative fantasy life of daydreams. Pacing often accompanied these daydreams, which Somer described as kinesthetic activity.
Maladaptive daydreaming can be described as excessive fantasy activity where a person uses elaborate plots and storylines to totally immerse themselves in the experience. This is done voluntarily but there also appears to be an addictive element to the daydreaming where the person feels compelled to spend many hours engaging in this fantasy. This can then impact on their everyday functioning both at work and in a social context. According to Somer, two or more of the following symptoms must be experienced for the proposed diagnostic criteria for daydreaming disorder. At least one of these should include criteria (1):
- While daydreaming, experiences an intense sense of absorption/immersion that includes visual, auditory, or affective properties.
- Daydreaming is triggered, maintained or enhanced with exposure to music.
- Daydreaming is triggered, maintained or enhanced with exposure to stereotypical movement (e.g., pacing, rocking, hand movements).
- Often daydreams when feels distressed, or bored.
- Daydreaming intensity and length intensify in the absence of others (e.g., daydreams more when alone).
- Is annoyed when unable to daydream or when daydreaming is interrupted or curbed.
- Would rather daydream than engage in daily chores, social, academic, or professional activities.
- Has made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop daydreaming.
- The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
- The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., dementia) and is not better explained by another disorder, e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Bi-Polar I Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Substance related and Addictive Disorders, an Organic Disorder or Medical Condition.
Klinger described daydreaming as a spontaneous or fantasy type thought characterised by ‘fanciful’ events that were imagined by the daydreamer. He saw these events, which were thought to occur in approximately 25% of thought samples, as unlikely to occur in real life and were based in fantasy rather than reality. He said that daydreaming and thought based in fantasy were not necessarily the same thing. It seems that the two are not very well defined as separate concepts, but it could be that daydreaming has an important cognitive function in our everyday lives in helping us problem solve or envision a future goal, but that fantasising could apply to an imagined story that has no basis in reality. This is however not necessarily a negative thing; perhaps it is a healthy aspect of the creative human mind.
Butler also differentiated between daydreaming and fantasy by saying that a daydream is spontaneous and mainly focusses on present life experiences whereas fantasy is about imagination, escapism, and pleasure.
Daydreaming has been mainly viewed as a normal mental activity that is experienced universally. According to Killingsworth and Gilbert almost half of all human thoughts would qualify as daydreaming. This may be one reason why clinicians are reluctant to classify maladaptive daydreaming as a mental disorder as high levels of daydreaming are considered normal and are part of everyday functioning. We all daydream in that we let our thoughts wonder and perhaps play out different scenarios in our minds, past, present or future. As daydreaming is reported as a common occurrence, it has meant that experts are reluctant to describe excessive daydreaming as a mental health issue, even if it causes distress or impacts everyday functioning. People usually think of normal daydreaming as undirected free thought. According to Somer normal daydreaming serves four adaptive functions: ‘future planning; creativity and problem solving; attentional cycling that allows individuals to alternate between different streams to advance important goals; and disinhibition, which improves learning by providing short breaks from external tasks.’ These are all important aspects of functioning as a normal person to improve things like problem solving and accomplishing tasks, and so seen as positive and a mental aid rather than a hinderance.
Schupak and Rosenthal conducted a case study in 2009 of a woman experiencing excessive daydreaming. Like Somer’s patients, her childhood daydreaming had been accompanied by kinesthetic activity, but unlike his patients she did not speak of an abusive childhood and seemed to function as normal in the real world. This suggests that there may be varying causes for maladaptive daydreaming as well as for degrees of psychopathology.
It is the addictive nature of maladaptive daydreaming that seems to distress people the most as it becomes compelling and hard to stop. In Somer’s study, 25% of participants described their daydreaming as compulsive and resulting in irritation, anxiety and illness when stopped. Somer reported the following comments from his participants, ‘I can’t turn it off … I become very anxious. I have intense migraine and my stomach will hurt.’ The intense craving to daydream was difficult to control and described by some as a drug they were in control of but not how much they were consuming. Maladaptive daydreamers scored higher than non-maladaptive daydreamers when measuring dissociative experiences, obsession, and inattention, suggesting that there is a dysfunctional element to their daydreaming. Participants also reported it as interfering with academic, vocational or interpersonal everyday functioning. These can all cause a considerable degree of distress, something that is not usually associated with normal daydreaming. Perhaps it is the distress itself that differentiates normal daydreaming from maladaptive daydreaming.
Research suggests that there are people who spend excessive amounts of time daydreaming in which they weave elaborate plots and intricately detailed stories. It is generally seen as an intensely pleasurable experience where individuals can escape their current reality into a fantasy world of their own. This does not come without negative impacts on everyday lives however. This type of daydreaming or fantasising can cause high levels of distress because the daydreamers may feel guilt and/or shame around the time it takes away from their loved ones and from their everyday lives. There is also an addictive element around maladaptive daydreaming that means it is difficult to stop once people are immersed in the daydream because the compulsion to stay in it is so powerful.
What seems to differentiate normal daydreaming from maladaptive daydreaming is that normal daydreaming tends to occur in shorter bursts and is spontaneous based on some internal or external stimuli ,and is usually based in reality, but that maladaptive daydreaming lasts much longer and contains elaborate plots, characters and fantasy worlds. Maladaptive daydreaming seems to often involve kinesthetic movement and music as a trigger, and impacts on work and on social relationships because of the time spent daydreaming.
My Thoughts…
I understand maladaptive daydreaming to mean excessive fantasy activity that interferes with everyday functioning and with maintaining relationships. I agree with Eli Somer’s definition that it must cause significant distress and/or have an impact on everyday life for it to be defined as maladaptive. It may be hard to gage this however as some people may live very solitary lives and may not necessarily work. They may engage in regularly prolonged periods of daydreaming and feel happy with this, preferring it to their waking life. Is it then maladaptive if it is not causing them distress but causing them pleasure instead? Is this actually very different than somebody who may spend hours watching television series as a means of escape? You could argue that in the case of daydreaming the creative part of the brain is being used because people are creating their own stories as they go along and so this could be seen as more proactive than passively watching a Netflix series. However, whilst most maladaptive daydreamers enjoy their daydreams and gain pleasure from them, many also feel that they are difficult to control and are having a detriment aspect on other areas of their lives such as jobs and relationships. If people are spending a significant portion of their daily lives immersed in daydreams then it will have a profound impact on their everyday functioning.
It is also clear that daydreaming is a very normal activity accounting for almost half of human thought. Even high levels are considered normal, in fact if we had no undirected free thought then that would be considered abnormal. It seems to play a significant part in problem solving and in creativity according to a number of researchers, and PET scans have shown that daydreaming shows up as normal brain activity.
Daydreaming has been shown to have a positive effect on both creativity and performance and is an important aspect of all our lives. It has been associated with normal brain activity and often seems to be more similar to thought rumination rather than ritualitistic behaviour. Daydreaming can also help with problem solving and can be a very effective coping mechanism for people suffering with issues such as depression or anxiety. It is very different to psychosis because the daydreamer is fully aware of the difference between fantasy and reality. Daydreaming is a completely normal activity.
Whilst there is a dissociative aspect to daydreaming and may accompany some symptoms of dissociative disorders, maladaptive daydreaming is different in that the dreamer is fully aware of what they are imagining and are in control of coming in and out of a daydream. We all dissociate from time to time and it is perfectly normal. However, when re-orientating themselves back into reality there may be some compulsions or repetitive rituals which suggests there is some anxiety around switching from a daydream state to a fully waking conscious state. This anxiety also shows up in the often common need to keep the daydreaming hidden from other people, implying that there is a degree of shame and embarrassment around it. This type of daydreaming is most often done alone and in secret and daydreamers will quickly come back into reality if somebody else enters the room. Excessive skin picking is also a trait of some maladaptive daydreamers, again indicating a degree of anxiety or an altered sensory threshold.
Another common element to daydreaming is the kinesthetic activity that often accompanies it such as pacing, rocking or mouthing words. These activities in themselves do not appear to be causing the daydreamer distress but it is interesting that they appear to need these physical activities to immerse themselves fully into the daydream. We would not necessarily consider repetitive actions such as pacing or rocking to be ‘normal’ activity and they do seem to correlate to classified mental health disorders such as ASD or ADHD.
Daydreaming that has become so intense that is it interfering with a person’s ability to function in everyday life has clearly become a problem to this person and is having a profound impact on them. More research needs to be carried out on maladaptive daydreaming, in particular cultural aspects of what daydreaming means to different cultures, the effects on the brain (such as short term memory loss) and an in depth study into why maladaptive daydreamers use music as a way into daydreams.
What to do you if you think you may be suffering from maladaptive daydreaming.
Consider contacting a counselling psychotherapist such as myself who can help you explore how the daydreaming is impacting your life, where it may have come from and what you can do to try to help you keep it under control. The daydreaming itself isn’t a problem it’s a solution to a problem, a way that you have found to manage life situations or relationships. It may have been a great way for you to manage emotions that are really painful or a way of dealing with problematic relationships. I can help you manage emotions in a different way, to face reality in a different way, for example grieving, problem solving and managing relationships. I won’t necessarily tell you to stop excessive daydreaming, it’s ok to keep doing it until you don’t need to do it anymore. Remember it is completely adaptive to have breaks from reality, but it’s our ability to do that for a little while to decompress and disconnect and then come back, that can be differentiate it to maladaptive daydreaming.