Questions. Imagination and escaping into your own world

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Thanks again everyone for the replies

I'm a bit late to this but my world is different to what has been described here. I would like to mention though I did talk a little about this world to my sister when I was around 3 or 4. When I was 5 years old she spent more time with friends and this world got stronger and was strongly influenced by movies and TV, especially that Chuck Norris/ Jonathan Brandis movie Sidekicks. Remember it? The boy in had his own imaginative world too but to me it was like I was living in the movie.

-would you describe it as being "your other world" that you escape to?
It's complicated. I'm not always in it. It's more like seeing the past or future or watching a movie.

-Are there people in the world?
Yes.

-If there are people, have you developed them to have separate characteristics from yourself?
Only one other is like me other than myself. The other characters are based on characters in movies/TV, look specifically like them and have the personality of one or two characters they play and some artistic license on my part.

-Do you make yourself as a character in the other world?
Only during what I would describe as 'day dreaming.'

-What point of view do you see the world? are you seeing it from the characters point of view OR watching over the characters.
I see it from a third-person perspective, as if I'm watching a movie. (Answer kept, it's just that)

-Do your worlds follow the same laws of nature/physics etc. as earth?
Yes. It's usually a sci-fi world.

-How much time do you spend each day in your other world?
Not a lot throughout the day unless I'm writing. Writing takes 2-3 hours. In bed I spend a couple more hours to help me get to sleep. During the 'day dreaming' times it can last a few seconds to a few minutes. Once when I was younger I stayed home sick from school and one was a movie that lasted 3 hours. When I was completing my high school certificate it got so intense that I had to force myself out of the world to complete my assignments.

-Does stimming and movement (ex. pacing around the house) help you to get into the other world?
No. Usually I just sit, lay still.

-If there is more than one character in your world, do you create them to have a wide variety of different personality types?
Yes.

-If you have come forward to someone about your world, do they often assume it might be a multiple personality disorder?
No one has really said anything. I tell them it's how I write and they seem to be fine with it. Doctors call it Fixed Fantasy anyway, so it's not a multi-personality disorder.

-If you've told people about it, how do they react?
I haven't really elaborated on it, just told them it helps me write and get to sleep.

-How long have you been in your other world? years, months?
Since I was 3 years old, became very strong when I was 5. Intense from 12-16 years. Used productively from 24 years to present day.

-Do you have more than one other world?
My world is not like my own utopian world, unless you count when I was exercising I saw myself on a on spaceship or the present day city turning into a futuristic world (from sensory overload). My worlds are movie scripts and sometimes they are simply escaping from a stressful social situation and are more like very vivid daydreams.

I have AS and I can definitely relate to having such worlds of my own.

That sounds pretty much like my worlds.


Same here. I can still function and I may be doing various kinds of things while my mind is in my own worlds. I spend a large portion of the day in my own worlds.

Would you describe it as being "your other world" that you escape to?
Yes.

Are there people in the world?
Kind of. They're not ordinary humans, but another species extremely similar to humans.

If there are people, have you developed them to have separate characteristics from yourself?
There are many different characters. Some of them have completely different characteristics than I and some of them share some of the same characteristics as I. None of them is very similar to me though.

Do you make yourself as a character in the other world?
No, I don't.

What point of view do you see the world? are you seeing it from the characters point of view OR watching over the characters.
That varies. I tend to switch perspectives all the time between different characters or to watching over them.

Do your worlds follow the same laws of nature/physics etc. as earth?
No. My worlds are not restricted to the nature/physics of earth. Many things are the same or similar, but there are also many things that are different.

How much time do you spend each day in your other world?
I usually spend a few hours each day in my worlds. It kind of depends on what kinds of things I need to be doing in real life in the meantime and how much peace I get to be in my own world without interruptions or questions. On some days I can spend 10 hours more or less in my own worlds, while on others it may be just 2 hours. I switch a lot between being in my own world and being in the real world. I rarely spend many hours non-stop in my own world.

Does stimming and movement (ex. pacing around the house) help you to get into the other world?
No, I can get into the other worlds whenever I feel like it. Sometimes it's hard to keep my mind in the real world though, because I'm so tempted to go to my own worlds, and at such times pacing around sometimes helps me stay in the real world.

If there is more than one character in your world, do you create them to have a wide variety of different personality types?
Yes. There are many very different characters in my worlds.

If you have come forward to someone about your world, do they often assume it might be a multiple personality disorder?
If you've told people about it, how do they react?
I haven't told anyone in real life about it.

If you have not told anyone about it, why not?
Because they'd think I'm nuts. Most people wouldn't understand. I also prefer to keep my worlds private. If people knew I had my own worlds, they'd ask endless questions about it and want to know more about them and would pass some judgements on them. I prefer to just keep my worlds to myself and not have to explain them to people who wouldn't understand, or listen to their opinons on the matter.

How long have you been in your other world? years, months?
I've been making worlds of my own since I was a kid. The first world that I remember creating started when I was around 7 years old I think. The world I created then still exists today and has always been my main "other world", although it has evolved quite a bit in all those years. I'm 29 years old now, so this world has been ongoing for about 22-23 years). I have created other worlds or completely separate sets of characters within the same world every now and then through the years, but there has always been one main set that I go to 99% of the time I spend in my own worlds.

Do you have more than one other world?
Yes.

-would you describe it as being "your other world" that you escape to?
I would definitely say it's "my other world" as only I go there and I don't involve anyone on "the outside in it "when I've mentioned it in the past (to my wife or my GP" they've just noted it as an oddity and not really understood what I was talking about so I don't discuss it with others these days. saying that, it was only joining this forum that made me understand and appreciate what is going on and why. I couldn't pin it down before.

-Are there people in the world?
There are characters, but only superficially. None that keep recurring, just whoever pops up at the time.

-If there are people, have you developed them to have separate characteristics from yourself?
-Do you make yourself as a character in the other world?
Sometimes, depends which particular world I am in. I used to put myself into the world much more when I was younger
-What point of view do you see the world? are you seeing it from the characters point of view OR watching over the characters.
These days more a case of watching the characters
-If your world does not have people in it, what is in it?
N/A
-Do your worlds follow the same laws of nature/physics etc. as earth?
Yes, most of the time
-How much time do you spend each day in your other world?
A good 2-3 hours, especially when commuting to and from work
-Does stimming and movement (ex. pacing around the house) help you to get into the other world?
No

-If there is more than one character in your world, do you create them to have a wide variety of different personality types?
Many characters but never the same ones. Characters are transitory and created specifically each time I go in.

-If you have come forward to someone about your world, do they often assume it might be a multiple personality disorder?

Not that I'm aware of, but it has been treated as something a little eccentric and my GP just raised his eyebrows when I mentioned it and said nothing more. Even my psychologist didn't pick up on it when I mentioned it once in a couselling session. One thing I do know is, I've always done this and never felt it the least bit odd. I just assumed everybosy else did it.

-If you've told people about it, how do they react?
See above - mostly dismissive or at the most, a slightly quizzical look.

-If you have not told anyone about it, why not?
I've told very few people and given their reactions, I don't tell my N/T acquaintances about these things anymore.

-How long have you been in your other world? years, months?
As long as I can remember. I'm now 34

-Do you have more than one other world?

Yes, I have a few, depends on what triggers me off when I enter the "oter world" state as to which world I enter.

I do this all the time even till this I have my worlds. I also have my own chatacter aswell but I always stick with the same one. I have plenty of people in my world allies and enemies, you can consider my world a place of the imposible which means that the impossible things that could never happen in reality are possible in my world anything can happen. When I visit my world my character always has a goal or mission it's almost like being in a different dimension. This usually happens in class or at home when no ones around and I'm board i'll slip into my imaginative world again. I feel safe when im in it and for those who go through the same thing I thank you for sharing.

-would you describe it as being "your other world" that you escape to?
Yes even though in every day life I take "the back seat" to others neads.

-Are there people in the world?
Yes and they have realistic traites and personalities.

-If there are people, have you developed them to have separate characteristics from yourself?
Yes most of them have nt type personas.

-Do you make yourself as a character in the other world?
Yes I play the lead or some obsure referance depending whats going on.

-What point of view do you see the world? are you seeing it from the characters point of view OR watching over the characters.
Ether as decribed above.

-If your world does not have people in it, what is in it?
Every thing that is found in the real world but could be at differant time periods i.e. current, 1800 post apacoliptic.

-Do your worlds follow the same laws of nature/physics etc. as earth?
99% of the time unless some "new" tech alows destortion of the natural "laws".

-How much time do you spend each day in your other world?
25%

-Does stimming and movement (ex. pacing around the house) help you to get into the other world?
Yes

-If there is more than one character in your world, do you create them to have a wide variety of different personality types?
Yes like the real world I even create caricters I absolutely hate.

-If you have come forward to someone about your world, do they often assume it might be a multiple personality disorder?
Never have shaired till today.

-If you've told people about it, how do they react?
na

-If you have not told anyone about it, why not?
I dont want to be seeing a counsler any time soon.

-How long have you been in your other world? years, months?
They run about 5 year searies with me looseing 25% of my time in them while functing in every day.

-Do you have more than one other world?
About five at any given time.

-Feel free to add anything more about your world, or ask me any questions about how I experience mine.
Ssome of mine alow me to use my intrest to there fullest extent. I retain a lot of knoledge that is of little consequentce in every day society but would be very usefull to people in a broken one. I can build every thing required to survive my self but in a society of traids there useless, with out them people would over look my quiks for what I can do.
Think of the little man in Mad Max beond Thunderdome.

Last edited by johnny77 on 01 Apr 2012, 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My fantasy world always involves me having interactions with other people where I am received positively, whether it be emotionally or socially. I have always considered it as a coping mechanism to prevent depression.

Oh my gosh. Thank you for posting this! This describes me quite well.

Since I can remember I've had my own fictional worlds... starring myself, or a different version of myself. I'm not bigheaded or think of myself as someone wonderful, but when I listen to music I almost always imagine myself as the musician. Not the actual musician doing the song, but myself as a musician. Music also makes my imagination create characters and stories derived from the lyrics. Sometimes it can get quite intense, and a lot of the time I put myself in that world I created. The same goes for films too.

I noticed that movement makes my imagination go wilder. When I'm walking somewhere I need to listen to music so I can go off into my imagination. Same goes for travelling in cars or trains or buses. Movement stimulates.

Someone posted about daydreaming and I replied:

"Yes. Constantly. When I have a spare moment my mind is away. It happens a lot in bed, on the train/bus, walking and moving and most commonly while listening to music. Whatever song is on triggers some kind of 'movie trailer' in my head. I come up with these different characters based from myself. They're like me, but enhanced. Sometimes when the song is really intense in whatever way I just stop what I'm doing and stare into space in this massive ocean of my imagination. Sometimes I also narrate my life in my head as if I'm reading it as an audiobook or documentary. I guess it's common to have such an active imagination if you're creative."

Also, because I'm a writer (enjoying screenwriting the most) I have a tendency to create mini scenes when having a conversation. If I'm on MSN with someone and we're talking about something, usually funny, I will think up and write out a mini scene to depict/demonstrate the topic, usually by involving fictional or real people and what they'd say.

-would you describe it as being "your other world" that you escape to? Actually, I see the "real world" as the "other world": the people in my "own little world" often feel more real to me than do people in the physical world.
-Are there people in the world? Many of them. During the early childhood, these were usually characters off of television shows or video games that I adapted into my world, but ever since I began my writing career, more and more of them are spawned from my imagination.
-If there are people, have you developed them to have separate characteristics from yourself? Most of them do have one or two traits that I have; they are, however, distinctively different from myself.
-Do you make yourself as a character in the other world? Yes, for the most part. My mental world revolves a bit around my physical world, so I would naturally be the protagonist (although some storylines progress without my "character"). My "character" isn't exactly me, per say; she is an anthropomorphic wolf who was born as a canis lupis (regular wolf)some 9000 years ago in Russia (ironically, my family has no link to Russia) but who was "reincarnated" into my reality. Our histories overlap, for the most part. She is more intelligent, more brave, and more socially apt than I am, but we're very similar at the core of things.
-What point of view do you see the world? are you seeing it from the characters point of view OR watching over the characters. 99% of the time, I see the world as the character: I am the protagonist. My world does, however, shift points-of-views occasionally, allowing me to see things that my "character" can not.
-Do your worlds follow the same laws of nature/physics etc. as earth? Eh...about three-quarters of them. The setting IS, for the most part, modern-day Earth. My world is filled with mythological creatures and futuristic technology, though gravity still takes affect and characters do occasionally die (though quite a few of them come back from the dead).
-How much time do you spend each day in your other world? All of it. The realities tend to overlap; when I am at school in the physical world, I am in a selective university in my mental world; whenever I am searching for cans of beans in the supermarket, I am mentally searching for cans of beans in the supermarket while fending off hyper-intelligent robots or holding my infant son (which, being a child, I do not have in the physical world: I am a virgin and do not necessarily want a real child).
-Does stimming and movement (ex. pacing around the house) help you to get into the other world? I would say that it is a bit of the other way around; my mind becomes so preoccupied with the mental world that my body does not know what to do in the physical world, and, feeling the need to do SOMETHING, it stims or paces or whatever else it does.
-If there is more than one character in your world, do you create them to have a wide variety of different personality types? Indeed. There are many, MANY characters in my world; most of them are werewolves (werewolves are a bit of my special interest), though some of them are vampires, some are robots, some are humans, some are dragons, and some are a hybrid of the above. Some of them are compassionate and caring; some are cold and unemphatic; they are all dynamic, however, and are often prone to changing as my experience with people in the physical world changes.
-If you have come forward to someone about your world, do they often assume it might be a multiple personality disorder? When I do "come forward" to neurotypicals about my world, I often present as a story in brewing--as I am a writer, they usually are content with this.
-If you've told people about it, how do they react? See above; they usually just nod and go on about their activities.
-How long have you been in your other world? years, months? As far as my memory extends. I am incapable, it seems, and currently very unwilling, to abandon this world. After a day or three, the world returns to me. It is as much of my reality, if not moreso, than the reality upon which I am currently typing words on this screen.
-Do you have more than one other world? No; I have one very complex world with multiple components.

I had a range of different worlds as a child and which I used to access by means of visual stimming (hand-flapping, staring at pieces of string or running water etc). I have a very vivid memory of coming home from school aged five and suddenly realising that the aeroplanes I had been looking forward to playing with when I got home were in my head and not real. It was a shock but for me it didn't matter. Over the years I had a military world based on empire-building, battles, ships, planes, soldiers and tanks and things like that, and a railway world and a football world. All very boyish I know. At some point I stopped actively developing the worlds any more and just left them as they are but I still play in my worlds sometimes although I'm an adult.

My main fantasy world over the years had me living a normal life as a NT living in a condo in a fictional city between New York and Boston.

My job would be being a Bus Driver as having a white collar job would seem too native for me lol. I choose Bus Driver as my job as college education is not needed for that and I would have gotten hired a few months after finishing High School.

I know this thread hasn't been posted on it two years but this is the first thing I've ver seen where there are people like me online...so...

1- Yes. It is my other world that I escape to.

2- There are people there, but they are usually taken from videogames. However, I've messed Up the characters personalities so badly that they might as well be mine...

3- The personalities are erratic, I'm not very good at nmaking them stable for my characters...

4- YES. Her name is Whisper, and she is the person who is who I'd like to be. Sort of.

5- Third person, usually. Occasionally first. I can see the other characters perspectives really easily.

6- Not really. I just do whatever I want. Teleporting between videogame worlds, knows things I shouldn't... It's completely illogical, but it's fun.

7- I don't spend as much time there as I spend talking to the characters and watching them argue. It's tricky not to laugh sometimes at the thins I come up with.

8- Definitely not. Being in the car or listening to music does help though.

9- I try. But I fail miserably the majority of the time...

10 & 11- My parents and friends just think its a quirk that makes me who I am. But I don't tell them all of it.

12- No. But I worry about that myself. The other dreamer I know tells me not to worry, but I still do.

13- no. My world is sort of an in between place, and O travel to videogame worlds from there.

I have so many things I want to say about this, please please reply!

Good thread. I am also a daydreamer so thanks for resurrecting it. There is more information online - it's been labelled as 'maladaptive daydreaming' - it's not yet an official diagnosis, but people are studying it - http://daydreamingdisorder.webs.com/.

Here's my answers to the original questions. It mostly applies to when I was a child and teenager and when I was very depressed in my thirties but even now I do escape to my world occasionally.

-would you describe it as being "your other world" that you escape to?
Yes
-Are there people in the world?
Yes, as it was invented when I was a teenager, most of the characters are teenagers. When I revisited it in my thirties, I followed one of the characters who had grown up
-If there are people, have you developed them to have separate characteristics from yourself?
Yes there are people with different characteristics, some are nasty and some are nice.
-Do you make yourself as a character in the other world?
No, but one of the characters was the person I wanted to be.
-What point of view do you see the world? are you seeing it from the characters point of view OR watching over the characters.
I am usually seeing it from one of the characters in the world
-Do your worlds follow the same laws of nature/physics etc. as earth?
Yes
-How much time do you spend each day in your other world?
As a teenager, I was always dipping in and out, when I was walking down the street, in my head I was walking down a street in my world, at school I would drift off in lessons and be in my world, sitting in the car I was in my world, alone in my bedroom I was in my world.

When I was depressed in my thirties, I would spend all my waking hours in my world. It was not healthy - I could not focus on the real world, my story was more important.

-Does stimming and movement (ex. pacing around the house) help you to get into the other world?
When I was little up until about the age of 13 or 14 yes, but older than that I could just go there.

-If there is more than one character in your world, do you create them to have a wide variety of different personality types?
Yes, there are goodies and baddies. One part of the world is a repressive totalitarian regime which the characters there fight to overcome. Another part of the world is very religious, and there is a part that is very like a middle class English town because that is where I was when I created it.

-If you have come forward to someone about your world, do they often assume it might be a multiple personality disorder?
Never spoken to anyone about it really.

-If you have not told anyone about it, why not?
No reason to. It's my place and I don't want to share it with anyone This is the most I've told anyone about it and ...erm .. I'm writing it on the internet for any stranger to read....

-How long have you been in your other world? years, months?
My world has existed since I was about 12 so yikes.... 32 years!! ! It started with a story about an earth girl who was kidnapped by aliens and sent to space school on another planet. This planet became my world. I would play on my ZX81 at home and pretend I was in a class at that school because it seemed so futuristic to have computers in a school!

-Do you have more than one other world?
Only one I have created although I have written 'novels' in my head and I find myself living in those worlds when I get into it. I always intend to write them but don't. I've also created fan fiction in my head mainly for Harry Potter (when I was probably far too old to do so!) although again I've never written it down. Although I'd like to be a writer, somehow I can never translate the colour and intensity and detail in my head into words on paper or on the screen. I probably give up too easily.

no.

no.

no.

no.

neither.

nothing.

no.

none.

no.

no.

no.

n/a

it does not exist.

never.

no.

I think the other world thing does help with things like depression and anxiety.

I don't really want to click the link... Does it say that we all are crazy people who need medication?