What’s in your brain all of the time? That may sound like a stupid question, but … If you’re not constantly daydreaming, is your brain quiet? Blank? What are your thoughts like?

I ask because, as I mentioned in another post, I daydream probably 90% of my waking day. Even when I’m doing other things, the daydreams are playing in the background like a TV someone left on. Unless I’m actively thinking about something else (“I must go do the laundry now,” et al) I’m daydreaming.

The thought of actually addressing this is terrifying because I simply cannot fathom a quiet brain. The thought kind of scares me.

Can anyone elucidate?

Hey fellow maladaptive daydreamers. I wanted to share with you a hack I found recently that helped me stopped daydream that much. I found it yesterday. WHITE NOISE!!!!!!! often I have the urge to listen to something and then go into a daydreaming state so White noise helps satisfy the urge and I really enjoy listening to it. It also helps by stopping the daydreams!!!!!

Yay.

I don't enjoy playing videogames, watching movies/series or reading books etc. I don't have any hobbies, there's nothing I'm interested to learn. Only maladaptive daydreaming brings me joy and I can literally feel physical excitement while pacing around the room and fantasizing about made up scenarios in my head. I'm only interested in finding some pieces of media or information that will give me ideas for my fantasies otherwise I feel completely bored.

My head feels so light, I haven't cried in a while now. I've forgotten how to cry, my own grief seems fake to me, because I'm acting all the time, continuously juggling the real world and the alternative reality I've created. Life will never come close to what I want.

I am a victim of circumstance, it's not my fault I developed MDD, it started so young, what am I supposed to do, it's so annoying and frustrating. Not a single day goes by without wishing I wasn't born, such a waste of resources.

Life feels so out of control - I wish someone could understand, I'm too embarrassed to speak about MDD. I am just waiting for a miracle to happen, fucking always, hoping something can just pull me out of this mess. I'm always so miserable.

10 years ago was the last time I (26F) felt alive, life is tough, I'm indecisive af, and every decision I made I've regretted. 10 years = a whole decade - idk what I did, nothing matters anymore.

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Been looking a job since 6 months. It's just me, I don't apply enough, how tf is something supposed to come to me. I am literally so stupid, worst is I won't even be able to explain to anyone how stupid I am. I AM SO EXHAUSTED.

So i’ve been trying to quit for 2 weeks now, by trying to increase mindfulness and understand mdd better and actively resist the urges.

I had little to no success til today.

When i woke up i felt like i was dreaming (not daydreaming) and i’ve been feeling like this all day. But i daydream WAY less today, feel and notice every detail of the physical world (which never happened due to MDD),but feel like this is all dream-like and i’m in a dream or movie or video or some videogame.

Has anyone had similar experience? Could it be related to my attempts to quit? There’s no other explanation of my sudden derealization but couldn’t find other posts on this sub that say they experienced derealization when trying to quit.

It’s horrible HELP

Can somebody give me some tips on how you can avoid daydreaming while studying?

TW: Depression

So i have had maladaptive daydreaming/issues with daydreaming for years now, and its eating me alive. It started when i was like 11, and my parents were getting divorced, and i really didnt have a good relationship to my dad, we just miscommunicated a lot bc we both have autism. So i started daydreaming to get that parental attention, and im pretty sure it was like maladaptive the first year or so, like i couldnt connect to my parents and i just sat and stared into the air bc i was so immersed in my daydreams. Then i kind of started to realize what was going on, like my daydreams were the issue, and it became less frequent but i still sought comfort in it, but i could connect with people again. So its been like four years since then, and i know i have to let of them if i wanna actually have a good life, but im so connected to them at this point, and i know theyre not real but i cant get myself to internalize that, i love them, but at the same time i do, i mean obviously i wanna get out of this, but i just cant. And i also feel so stupid for struggling, bc theyre not really people and other people have lost actual family members and this is nothing, and i have good parents who know about all this and want to help me, and i feel like a pathetic whining crybaby. And at the same time im also scared bc i still find comfort in them, and like there has to be a reason for that, even though i have a great relationship to both of them now. And i also think i might get depressed, bc whenever ive been close to internalizing that theyre not real, i get so apathetic and i dont find joy in anything. Im just so tired, its like ive been living with this knot in my stomach for months now, like im about to explode and finally realize theyre not real. Its so draining. I also dont have any friends, and i have a therapist, but ive only seen him twice, and im gonna see him next week, but then theres a two week gap before i can see him again, and theres also so much other stuff going on and i just dont think i can keep going that long, i dont know what to do. (To clarify, i dont have issues with daydreaming immersively anymore, and it doesnt affect my day-to-day life, aside from maybe sleep schedule a bit, its just the emotional stuff.) Im honestly scared ill off myself, too, like a few days ago i had this feeling of like, i didnt belong where i was. And not just my house, it was like this whole world. I think its a coping mechanism bc my brain doesnt wanna let go of the connection i have to these characters, so it makes me feel like i dont belong here so that i can still feel like i belong there. It was like offing myself was the right thing to do bc i would never belong here, and even though it was hard, it had to be done, bc thats the only way things could be right again. Its terrifying, i know it isnt real, and i know its a trick my brain playing on me and i dont actually have to do it, and things will get allright again, but im so scared ill actually do it before i can get help. So thats like another reason why im scared, and im just so overwhlemed and tired and i dont know what to do.

Recently I’ve felt so down because life just doesn’t amount to the stories I can create in my head. There’s not excitement or adventure or thrilling story.

In my daydreams I can just be who I want and I can deal with the bad situations and know I come out on the other side because I can just decide that I want to.

It’s scary to live in a world where everything feels so dull but to yearn for the colourful world in my head. I just feel like I’m drowning in all the grey skies and money problems and lack of friendship.

I hope someone can relate and I’m hoping someone could relate but learnt to come out on the other side. I just really needed to complain I guess

I have visited here before, but decided to join and post for the first time today.

I am middle-aged and have been daydreaming since my teens. I am not aware of any trauma that might have caused it. It has only been the last 5 years or so that I realized that this is not healthy. I always knew it was unusual, but only recently put it all in perspective.

There have been so many things I could have done, but I have been isolating myself and daydreaming. It's easy for me to lose several hours a day. This adds up. I have probably spent the equivalent of months, if not years, daydreaming.

Unfortunately, I even do it when I am with others. I have actually been caught moving my moving my mouth sometimes--what I am actually doing is engaging in a conversation in mind. I make excuses, but its humiliating. I desperately want to stop. Please give me any advice you have.

Ive been experiencing this for a while, and it always comes as a package with my MD. I feel like if i somehow move, i can play out my daydreams. I live in a more conservative country so I always felt my life will be better elsewhere and somehow all these daydreams will come true

I just started my driving lessons a few months ago and I’ve been finding it really hard to focus without spacing out while driving. I’ve once also was going to hit a car while reversing because of daydreaming.

I’ve started to notice that haven’t made so much progress and might take me longer to achieve my license.

Does this problem happen to anyone else?

That’s it. I literally just realised this.

I googled why I talk sm about myself (in my head not irl).And it said self validation. And I had a lightbulb moment.

The constant daydreaming usually featuring me talking to someone who gets me or just talking about myself in interviews or I imagine someone who gets me talking about me. Yeah, that seems like a whole lot of narcissism. But I think all of it boils down to my emotional neglect and desperate desire to be seen and heard. It literally explains every.single.behavior of mine. It’s crazy.

ever since i was 12 i went to bed thinking of a boy wether it was a current boy i was interested in or someone fictional and now this guy im inlove with for over a year just flat out told me he wants nothing more then friendship and not only am i having to work around still being friends with him but love and Romance is a huge part of my life. the things i read and watch about love and i daydream about love and i go to bed thinking about love but idk how to do that healthily in a situation like this since now i have to take his face out of those thoughts. any support would help

This probably sounds super funny but i always sneeze when i get a good idea of what to daydream about. In my case it's usually something angsty lmao I know about sexually induced sneezing but it's never anything sexual, but it probably has similar explanation why it happens. Does this happen to anyone else?

I don't understand the going cold turkey for mdd. I mean cold turkey literally means complete mindfulness. I want to ask this to people going cold turkey. What is quitting cold turkey means for you in that matter? There are some people who gone cold turkey for more than a month and what do you actually mean?

So I had a complete breakdown 3 days ago and saw a psychiatrist and told them everything that was going on in my life and mental. I always thought I just had some intense daydreams for hours a day, everyday. I told them how they talked to me and I talk to them. How i feel everything happening in my ”daydreams” are actually reality and the delusions that created. I got diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I’m sorry you all, I thought i was just daydreaming this whole time and obviously it was not just daydreams. Thanks everyone for this community and I’m sorry that i thought i was a part of this community.

I do t wanna stop daydreaming because it’s very fun and also I get a ton of exercise because I pace back-and-forth. But the problem is I’m wanting to I’m move from my room to one upstairs and you can hear everything, even just people walking and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to stop but I want to move my room because I think it would be better for me mentally. Any advice??

Am I the only one who makes weird, fast movements while daydreaming?

For example, I’ll imagine something I really like and then start waving my arms around or moving quickly in one direction without even realizing it.

Has anyone gone from doing nothing but mdd for years and letting it consume their whole life and destroy everything to doing it healthily?? Please tell me if this is possible.

Long story short, I just recently discovered what MD is and, upon discovering this, it makes so much of my life make sense. Some quick stats: I am diagnosed with ADHD and OCD. I have suffered with this for practically my entire life; my parents moved around a lot when I was little and I had no siblings. I didn’t have a friend until I was seven years old, so the first seven years of my life was just me, the TV, and my imagination.

I daydream probably 80% of my waking hours. Even when doing other things, even if I’m having a conversation, there’s this daydream playing in the back of my head like a TV on in the background.

Like so many others, my daydreams are long, ongoing stories … entire worlds I’ve constructed in my head. As a writer (my day job) this has always been beneficial because I can just write what I’ve already seen in my head.

This next part will make me sound insane, I know … but I put it out there in case other folks have dealt with something similar:

I have a significant other IN MY IMAGINATION … and I have been daydreaming her since middle school, practically my entire life. I’ve even aged her up as I’ve gotten older. Now, sometimes the stories change … sometimes, I’m daydreaming of our initial meeting, sometimes it’s a proposal, sometimes we’re married with a little girl … various scenarios and adventures.

Again, I stress that this person is not real. She’s not based on anyone real.

Now, for whatever reason, I have daydreamed that she has left me for someone … in the daydream, I am devastated and she has grown very callous and doesn’t understand why I can’t move on.

Again, she is not real.

Yes, I know this sounds insane. It makes me feel insane. I’m honestly, legitimately feeling depressed because an imaginary daydream girlfriend dumped me BY MY OWN DESIGN and, though I could just daydream a reconciliation, I’m wallowing in this self-induced self-pity.

What is wrong with me? Brains are weird.

I've had an insane imagination as long as I could remember.

It was to the point where I would have entire fantasy storylines with characters and subplots, and I would spend hours and hours per day daydreaming...even talking aloud as multiple characters in my fantasies.

Since I've gotten sober due to a million issues, I've now coming to grips with having OCD triggered by childhood trauma. My entire day is constant pure O obsession over everything, mostly bad, or, insanely positive praise from others in my mind that is clearly not real. Though I do regularly get good feedback from people I work with that I also obsess over of course.

I've managed to use some of this imagination of mine to build a successful copywriting career. I've also worked on sales pages, ebooks, emails, and all that.

I realize now that this is a real thing. I always thought that I just had a very powerful imagination. My daydreams feel real and I really feel like I'm in the world that I imagine and can feel happiness and sadness along with the characters...and it's intense sometimes.

I also realize that many of my daydreams/escapes are connected to OCD obsessions like scrupulosity and perfection.

I can't completely kick the habit, since I THINK it helps me work. But I need to stop using daydreams as an escape, because it's clearly an obsession and I am only reinforcing the obsession by doing it. I really had no idea until recently.

I can really feel it though. Reality is fucking stressful and boring. I love escaping. Not so much now that I don't drink, but it's still a big thing for me. I'll have vivid, talking daydreams several times per day, and it makes me feel great...but then I come back to reality and it's boring as hell.

I won't get rid of it totally unless I have to, but I now see why it's a major issue.

Crazy that this sub exists. Pretty cool, aye.

hi so i really need to vent to a community of people that will understand and this seems like the best place to do it.

for back story: i have dealt w MD as long as i can remember. i had a shitty childhood and i was an only child so it was a huge coping mechanism for me and unfortunately it overtook my life to the point where im now 27 and was still doing it regularly up until recently. my set up usually includes pacing with headphones on and music playing when i’m home alone. however, some family recently moved in with us and i never have alone time anymore and wont for the foreseeable future. it was sprung on us so i didnt have time to really process my household going from 2 to 4 so it’s been a lot. it’s been 2 months without having the freedom to daydream and i’m going INSANE. not only because i went almost 2 decades straight daydreaming almost daily but the stress of the situation is making me crave my little escape in my mind more than ever. part of me feels like this is for the best because this may have been what i needed to kick the habit and stop doing it for good but also i feel like a addict desperate for a fix. it’s all i think about, it’s all i want to do and my emotions are turning into ANGER that i can’t do it and that they’re keeping me from being able to do it by being here. i have tried to do it without the headphones and pacing and it just doesn’t work for me. i’ve tried reading, games, fanfic, tv shows, etc to distract my mind from reality but all i want to do it daydream. i’m not necessarily looking for advice or for anyone to tell me that this is for the best because there’s nothing that’s gonna scratch the itch and i am fully aware that this is probably good for me but i just can’t get past the emotions i feel and the urge to do it.

i guess i do want to ask anyone that has quit/forced to quit after being reliant on it for their whole lives, how long does it take for the desire to do it go away? does it ever?

I have this weird problem where, let’s say for example I have to go out for a social event that’s planned on Tuesday and I learn about this on the previous Friday, I’ll stress over it for allll the following days up till Tuesday.

So I’ll want to MD so badly but I feel like if I do, by Tuesday I won’t be able to socialize normally because of my MD and embarrass myself to others. So I put off MD but it makes me unhappy and compiles my stress. I feel like my brain is straining not to all because of this social event coming up.

It’s gotten so bad that even with work, I want to avoid meetings online because of my MD. I feel like it throws me off and makes me awkward.

It’s like I conflate the two together. And because of this I try to avoid social outings with friends or family because I’d rather MD whenever I have a chance to.

But I have severe guilt and anxiety over this that it sabotages my social life and also my MD daydreams.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I fucking hate this so much man. This is my last high school year. We have bunch of tests thrown at us. And every time I'm in class I can't concentrate on the tests because I'm always in a state of daydreaming. I can't stop it I can't do anything. Today I had a test and the whole hour I just.. Kept being in my head and I couldnt focus on the test at all. I'm so mad at myself I wanna cry. I always feel like an embarrassment because everyone else is doing their tests and I'm just staring into space and am daydreaming instead of focusing. I'm such a failure

I'm talking about physical high too, sometimes so strong that it makes my stomach hurt... is anyone else experiencing this?

I’ve been maladaptive daydreaming since I was a kid, usually focused on celeb crushes. I didn’t for years but then my dad got sick and I started again and got veryyyyyy hyper fixated on a pretty popular celebrity (like absolutely obsessed with him). The crush started almost two years ago. About a year ago, I decided to start over the MD and have a character versus the celeb himself. I didn’t really want it to be as tied to him personally to keep the MD going even if he had a relationship or other things happened with him that didn’t work with my story in my head. I probably didn’t do a great job of really keeping that separated though. Anyway, lately I’ve been finding myself less attracted to the celeb himself in that way (no fault to him!), which honestly is good because this parasocial relationship needed to fade. It stupidly caused me stress and was just too encompassing. At the same time, I’m sad about it bc I have been using MD to cope for years and now I can’t go there and I don’t have anyone new. I’m trying to let him go, but I’m finding myself sort of clinging to this obsession because it gave me an escape, despite knowing it’s been really unhealthy at times. I’m scared to be alone with my thoughts and that I’ll be really depressed or empty just in full reality. I feel dumb bc I feel genuinely sad about losing the version of him in my head.

What do people move on to thinking about with out MD? How do you distract yourself from all the anxiety, especially during stressful times? I honestly wish I could jump back into my daydream, because otherwise all I think about is the horrible state of the world, all the things I need to do, and grief.

Thanks for listening.

I (31m) realized that most person who has MD are in their 20's. Is anyone here 30+ and still does this??