Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Daydreaming may bring us many benefits. Research has shown that they are a source of pleasure, a way to get rid of boredom, and enhance our ability to mentally escape from the present as well as innovation, problem-solving, planning, in addition to being a cure for loneliness.
According to an article published on the website of the non-profit organization “The Conversation”, the concept of daydreaming identifies that these dreams are thoughts that have nothing to do with what we are currently doing, and that they occupy a large part of our waking life, with an average temporal rate of about 30%. . Daydreams are also part of our daily conscious experience. People see it as the default they go back to, especially when we’re doing mundane tasks that don’t require a lot of brain power.
However, it is estimated that 2.5% of adults experience a type of excessive daydreaming known as a daydreaming disorder. Those who live this type of daydreaming are known as maladaptive dreamers, or what is known as compulsively engaging in vivid fantasies and plots in excessively daydreaming, which interferes with their ability to function in daily life.
What are maladaptive daydreaming?
Maladaptive daydreaming differs from typical daydreaming in several ways.
Unlike typical daydreams, which may be fleeting and last for several seconds, people who experience excessive daydreaming can spend hours in one daydream at a time. One study indicated that people who suffer from excessive daydreaming spend at least half of their waking hours immersed in intentionally constructed imaginary worlds. These invented worlds are often rich and imaginative, characterized by complex plots and stories that develop over many years.
The imaginary worlds of hyperactive daydreamers are vibrant and rewarding, and the need to pursue imagination can be both pressing and addictive. With excessive daydreaming, they have a strong desire to daydream and feel disturbed when this is not possible or interrupted. Most also find it difficult to stop or even reduce the amount of time they spend daydreaming.
But prioritizing spending time in imagined alternate realities over physical and social needs can cause problems at work, school, and maintaining close relationships. Many people with maladaptive (excessive) daydreaming report stress, difficulty sleeping, and feelings of shame about their daydreaming activity, which they may hide from others.
It is important to note that interactive daydreaming and vivid imaginative activity do not hypothetically lead to maladjustment. And that what makes daydreaming “unadaptive” is the difficulty in controlling it, taking precedence over real life, and the conflict of compulsive daydreaming with important life goals and relationships.
Why does that happen?
Researchers believe that people who suffer from excessive daydreaming may have an innate capacity for innovative, interactive fantasies. Many discover this ability early in childhood, and imagination and daydreaming can be used to control feelings of sadness, by creating an inner world of comfort, in which they can escape from reality.
Some of those who experience this may use daydreaming as a coping strategy. For example, the activity of daydreaming can distract from an unpleasant reality which may help to deal with trauma, difficult life events, or social isolation. But this can lead to a vicious cycle of compulsive imagination, as using imagination to avoid negative feelings can exacerbate the urge to daydream.
In many ways, daydreaming becomes an addictive behavior that feeds into problems one would like to alleviate. Perhaps not surprisingly, people experience maladaptive daydreaming in parallel with other disorders, the most common of which are ADHD, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
There appears to be a strong relationship between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and maladaptive daydreaming. One study found that more than half of the participants with maladaptive daydreaming also showed signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This fact may suggest possible common mechanisms between the two disorders, which may include intrusive thoughts, dissociation, and a lack of cognitive control.
Moreover, the fact that maladaptive daydreaming is not recognized as a psychological condition also means that we know little about its treatment options. There is one documented case study, published in a peer-reviewed journal, of a 25-year-old man who managed to cut the time he spent daydreaming in half, from about three hours per day to less than an hour and a half. He managed to do so within six months, during which he underwent a range of psychological treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness.
Although the treatment did not affect how rewarding daydreaming felt, he reported improvements in work and social functioning, as well as in latent obsessions. It is expected that as the awareness and understanding of excessive daydreaming increases, more treatment options will become available to patients.