maladaptive daydreaming poll-please read post then respond

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Thank you

The daydream focused on the character before and after, rather than the torture itself, actually. And mostly for the fun of it, I figured out how I'd write this one to imply what happened without ever saying it. I might actually do this, though, because I like how creepy I can make it... but then again, there are parts I'm just not qualified to write. I guess I can count myself lucky that I don't know what I'd need to.

Your quotes are still broken... I know how to show you what I do, but not to explain it any better. But I won't mention it again, you already know, I'm not trying to be rude.

Are yours mostly with your own characters and world, or do you mostly use other people's? Or real people?

Mine also did not involve the actual torture it was a women accused of witchcraft incarcerated and scheduled to be tortured.
Your quotes are still broken... I know how to show you what I do, but not to explain it any better. But I won't mention it again, you already know, I'm not trying to be rude.




Mine depend on the nature of the obsession that they are related to. With the culture obsession it involved a version of me...and real people that I know. However sometimes the characters are completely made up (like with my animal obsessions of childhood or with the medieval torture one). I think my longest standing ones have involved me (or a character that I "am" or an idealized version of me" and real people that I know. How about you.........do yours mostly involve real people. and yourself??

One very non-AS thing about me is that I have no interest or aptitude for computers or anything mechanical. I actually find it hard to pay attention to explanations of how to do certain things on the computer. love science (biology, psych and physical anthro only) and have had history/culture related obsessions and am very methodical about my accumulation of details in regard to these things............

Anyhow...I am going to give up on fixing the quotes for now...but thanks for trying to explain.=)

That's not one I can recall having, but definitely plausible subject matter for me.



Mine often involve me, but not always. Mine often involve fictional universes and characters I like, but don't discriminate between mine and other people's. Nor do I shy from using people I know or the real world. The fact that there's nothing I can do about how mixed-up together these various sources of characters, setting and plot get is one of the reasons I cannot understand banning fanfiction. To me it's no different if I use my characters or your characters or real people. I can of course understand where using real people and their names without any sort of disclaimer could be a little rude or misleading, though. Then there's an actual truth about those people.

Of late, most of what I daydream is self-insert fic (technically-- it involves both me and at least one aspect of at least one fictional universe, even though it runs the gamut from straightforward I-go-to-the-fictional-verse to a mix of the real world, several alternate versions of the real world, multiple fictional universes, both of my creation and not of my creation, and some alternate versions of those universes all interacting together). I don't do nearly as much "pure" fanfic (one fictional universe I didn't make up) anymore. I do some original fic (entirely fictional and made up by me), though. When I was younger, I did more original RPF. I did even more self-inserts (some thinly veiled), and I did them as Mary Sues (idealized versions of me); while I still do some Sues for the fun of it, I do a lot more realistic versions of me.

When I was about ten, I had two universes that featured me and some friends having adventures.

Somewhere in between, I did a lot of pure fanfic.

Lately, Tywin Lannister and I have been discussing autism. But there are also a lot of other things.

It's work for me like that too. And I am pacing A LOT when I daydream, to the point of having exercices.

Mine have in the past involved fictional universes too....they don't now though...........For about a year and a half I was really interested in sci-fi and fantasy novels and my daydreams revolved around the fantasy novels of the books I read (i.e fanfic) I was really intrigued with the idea of time travel and alternate universes and that was a common motif for awhile. Some were partially based on a t.v series called "sliders" which I only watched a few episodes of and then just started creating my own alternate universes in my mind. Mine were usually alternate versions of this universe or something very similar to it…….but I did have some completely different universes. They almost always involved me.

When I was a child I had this really strange one where there were different worlds for each colour , a purple world, a green world etc. ..there were only certain kinds of things you could do in each world and certain kinds of food you could eat...I could travel from world to world when these flying school bus like vehicles came along (I had to wait for the right coloured bus to go to the universes that I wanted to go to). I had friends in each of the universes and I was me.

More recently mine have been related to this world (me being me) and having to do with a particular culture or country.....more boring I suppose…….

In terms of fanfic... I was also obsessed with Harry Potter (for a few months) and created a character that I could be according to the HP characters in the "next generation'. If you like HP a lot then I'll tell you more about that........I actually created some very elaborate scenes with entirely made up characters for that one. I don't see what's wrong with fanfic either…. it makes the stories and the characters come to life! I wrote some fanfic scenes in relation to HP.

I never thought about using other peoples fantasies because there was only one other person (also on the net) who I discussed my fantasies with. She was really interested in HP at the same time I was and I incorporated her fantasies and ideas into my daydreams. So I guess I don't mind adopting other peoples daydreams,..........

I think the things I daydream about reflect what's going on in the real world, but also lag. So I think that's why I daydream about fandoms from a little after I get into them to a while after I otherwise get out of them. So if you spend more time thinking about cultures or the people around you, I bet that would explain it. Do you?

Honestly, I think it's how I process information. That's why I imagine things whenever I learn new information.

Like, I was reading about corydoras catfish. And I imagined what would happen if I kept cories. (I ought to. They're cute.) I have similar fantasies involving myself and fish, but they only happen when fish are a special interest... and usually occur after I learn new information, and feature this information being relevant to me.

Especially while reading I get up and pace, and I think about scenarios involving what just happened.

I think this is NOT maladaptive. I think this is essential to my ability to process information. And I think pacing is essential to my ability to process people-as-people. People-as-objects I can process while lying down, so while drifting off to sleep, I often think about things involving the human body as an object, but things involving people's minds and stuff... I think I can only predict people's actions while walking.

I am into HP, sort of, but if you want to talk about fanfic, PM me. I think this thread really ought to just have us talking in general about how these things work, but I'm interested in hearing about your HP fanfics.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about cultures and historical periods...these have been my longest standing special interests ...I read about a culture that I find fascinating and then become absorbed in it. Right now my interest is in psychology (that is also what I'm studying) and I have a daydream that involves facts that I have learned. I don't think I think about the people around me that much.......usually one person I know or a version of them is in my dreams /reacting to what I say... but not necessarily based on how they would react in real life....Often there are pretend people in my daydreams as well.......

I process information the same way... my fantasies are almost always incorporating facts into imagination (or imaging scenes form book/stories I have read. Since I was maybe 5 all of my special interests involved imaging a scene that pertained to my accumulated knowledge. Since I have (as an adult) been interested in particular counties or historical periods...my fantasies have been built around them.
The whole people-as-objects/people-as people thing.....I don't know if I do that....I've never really thought about it....but that's interesting. ......

Anyways I don't think pacing while daydreaming is maladaptive. the only thing that makes this proposed daydreaming "condition" maladaptive is if (like in the original description) is if it interferes with your life in some way. For me the only way it really gets in the way of my life is by keeping me up at night when I really need sleep. As a child though it may have kept me more withdrawn into my own world and not interested in socializing or doing school work (except maybe in one or two subjects when they pertained to my interests). In essence the daydreaming WAS my life. On the other hand...I probably would have been in my own little world absorbed in my interests anyway…and the daydreaming is just the way I process info like you said. However the daydreaming was irresistible to me as a child and I would do it at inappropriate times (i.e. during class).....so I think that was maladaptive. Pacing and daydreaming at home during daytime hours is definitely not maladaptive!!

I will send you some of my fanfic...I think you're right about not derailing the thread.......

What I found maladaptive about it is that it made me unhappy. Not that the content of the daydreams made me unhappy while I was daydreaming. But that while I was doing it, it made me extremely unhappy over a period of time. Like I'd just generally feel emotionally cruddy and slightly in the depressed direction more than usual, over a stretched-out period of time that happened to include times I was daydreaming. Clearing up the daydreams cleared up a good part of the emotional crud. That's why even before I heard of the term "maladaptive daydreaming" I knew it wasn't a good thing for me. I assume if you're daydreaming a lot and it's not maladaptive, then it's just "daydreaming". I know someone else with the same issue as me who found the same solution to it, and I know that if I said the term "maladaptive daydreaming" to her she'd immediately know what I meant with no explanation, same as I knew what it meant before I read about it.

I do it, but I don't "suffer" from it, and it doesn't inhibit me. When I'm going through a tough time I use my daydreams to escape. They aren't what's hurting me, they're a coping mechanism.

How would you even know? I mean, how would you have a baseline for how you feel when you're not? I don't think I've spent so much as a day without doing it. (Well... actually, I probably have. Actually I recall doing so. But my ability to judge what that did to me is clouded by the fact that at the time I was having multiple panic attacks per day and feeling awful anyway, and by the fact that I spent almost all my time reading the Bible because it was the only thing that gave me any relief. So I have no idea what not daydreaming was doing to me because it was buried underneath really powerful feelings. When I got myself back on an even keel I also went right back to daydreaming.)

I wonder how daydreaming could do that to you. Do you have any theories?

For me as well..... the only time I ever remember not engaging in fantasies was when I was severely depressed i.e. would not get out of bed, did not want to eat etc. (This is with the exception of before age 5 when I remember just counting by different numbers incessantly and learning new words .......apparently I also had an obsession with prime numbers (learned by rote and not understood)......I don't think I had developed a fantasy world yet).

My fantasies normally make me feel happy and exited...the problem is that they are addictive because they're so enjoyable. I've actually never heard anyone say that their daydreams made them feel depressed over time. Anbuend did they just make you feel unproductive because you were spending so much time daydreaming or was it something else?

However daydreaming does increase for me when I am stressed, as I use it as a means to cope with the stress...............

Well, actually, it wasn't a natural result of being depressed. It was something I consciously decided to do. But... it's really complicated. I'm not sure I want to explain. Anyway, I was fighting myself the whole way.

I daydream excessively, and I would actually say that it strongly impairs my ability to function. I can fall into a daydream unexpectedly while doing something uninteresting and not realize how much time has passed. And unfortunately, many of the things I need to do in my day-to-day life are not as interesting as something I would rather occupy myself with. My daydreams tend to be related to my special interest, so they are functional only when I'm preoccupied with that special interest. At other times, they become a hindrance.