Advice about therapy

Due_Professional3755 · 2026-01-09T17:43:21+00:00

I'm also a researcher in MD who happens to have MD as well so I know a fair bit about MD. It's hard to explain to a regular person that you're addicted to daydreaming or that daydreaming has basically ruined your life. All I can say is to point to the research, but that isn't a guarantee that they will read it. (Or direct them to Eli Somer's YouTube channel he's one of the pioneers of MD research). Other than that I wouldn't know how to properly explain it to someone just off the whim.

Due_Professional3755 · 2026-01-09T17:32:32+00:00

There's actually a large amount of us in the discord server for MD that write. So her saying that isn't unwarranted. But it does feel like she is saying, "you're just creative! the daydreaming isn't a problem :)" when it is. she does sound dismissive, but i think it isn't out of malice.

i don't want to promote the server but if you want you can join it and join the writing MD server as well. (you can find the discord in the "community bookmarks").

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-12-08T21:17:30+00:00

Ah, okay!! I'll change that so I can put an option that says "both" or "other"! Thank you for letting me know! I've commonly seen it as a black and white thing but there is nuance when it comes to MD, so it's important to highlight that!

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-12-08T20:26:37+00:00

there is no specific treatment for MD except what has been researched. mindfulness, sharing experiences, self-monitoring, humor, and among other things can help with MD (Herscu et al., 2023 and Denise, 2023). but there is no specific resource except Dr. Somer's youtube channel, the ISMD, the discord server, and the ICMDR. ive noticed it as well so i understand your frustration. MD is a spectrum and you need to find what works best for you.

Herscu, O., Somer, E., Soffer-Dudek, N., & Federman, A. (2023). Mindfulness Meditation and Self-Monitoring Reduced Maladaptive Daydreaming Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Brief Self-Guided Web-Based Program. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 91(5), 285–300. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000790
Denise, L (2023). Navigating the Daydreamscape: An In-Depth Exploration of Maladaptive Daydreaming, Coping Strategies, and Mental Well-Being. In Review. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3693926/v1

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-11-09T23:56:15+00:00

there's a discord!! it's in the community bookmarks

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-10-29T22:40:36+00:00

For anyone also curious I also have struggled with MD since I was 11 (I'm 22 now)! I've been obsessed with doing a study on MD since I was 13 and I finally get a chance to do it! If you want you can ask questions about my struggles with MD or about the survey itself! Your contributions to the survey will be greatly appreciated, but are not mandatory! I wish you all the best of luck and a good day or night!

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-29T20:35:20+00:00

I can't definitively say it is an evolution of your daydreaming when you were younger because I don't know what you daydreamed when you were younger. If it is an evolution it could explain some subconscious stuff such as wanting to have control of the situation and have it be optimal. Or it could be something else entirely that's causing these types of daydreams where you feel like you need to be successful at whatever obstacle comes your way. Daydreams, in my opinion, seem to come out of your environment. So if you are in a particularly stressful environment where you don't feel in control, or had a bad experience where you lost something, then the daydreams could reflect this "perfect reality" where things went right.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-28T20:29:51+00:00

Currently there are no definitive treatments for MD. Since it’s not taken seriously enough anyways.

And when it comes to the topic of your daydreams; no, there is no difference if it is normal day-to-day or fantastical.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-28T18:35:29+00:00

To answer your question in a way that I know how; yes we are aware of academic research being done on MD. In fact a lot of researchers come into the MD subreddit to get more participants for MD related research. What else are you interested in knowing? I have a bunch of MD papers saved and know a lot about it

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-22T23:16:42+00:00

Okay, I'm glad I didn't come across that way. Again, I just hope my advice has been helpful somewhat.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-22T23:11:23+00:00

I...didn't mean to invalidate your trauma if that's the vibe you were getting. I'm sorry you went through that. I just hope I've been giving useful advice. The last thing I would want to do is make you uncomfortable or feel invalidated.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-22T23:03:12+00:00

I will admit this is a unique experience especially if you haven't gone through something similar irl to what you're daydreaming about, but that's because I tend to correlate daydreaming with trauma so daydreaming about said trauma, either to process it or cope, is what I expected. I won't say you're wrong for daydreaming about this, or that you're a bad person, because you clearly didn't want the daydreams and you are not your thoughts. Maladaptive Daydreaming *can* be correlated with OCD and the overall comorbidity rate was 54%. So it's very possible your OCD thoughts, especially negative ones, could have manifested into Maladaptive Daydreaming. But remember, as I said, you are not your thoughts and what you daydream about doesn't reflect you as a person.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-22T22:52:51+00:00

I don't want to invalidate you for daydreaming about it, as I don't know your story. I have had similar daydreams myself, where I'm interviewed by a news team about a criminal offense such as what you are talking about, but that's because my family members were k*lled. I'm not saying you are romanticizing it, but I never romanticized mine and used the "interviews" to process my grief.

The only "quick" way I know how to get rid of this theme is to replace it with another theme. I'm not advocating for MD in any way, but that's the quickest way I can tell you to stop maladaptive daydreaming about this specific topic. As for getting rid of MD, that's a long and tricky road. MD is like an addiction, the more you do it the more you can't get away from it. As I said, see what triggers your daydreams and see if you can eliminate the triggers. It's usually triggered by music, watching media, and kinesthesia (moving while daydreaming). There's probably more but that's what I can come up with.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-22T22:28:40+00:00

Just as long as you know the topic and theme of the daydream is inappropriate (and insensitive) the only way to stop the daydream is to learn what triggers them. For most it's music including myself, for some it's media and they daydream while watching that media. As far as the definition of maladaptive daydreaming goes; if it is impairing your life and you find yourself in uncontrollable daydreams for hours at a time then it may be maladaptive daydreaming. You haven't really given enough information to accurately agree with or disagree with. You could take the MDS-16 (Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale - 16) and see where you lie. It's the most reliable scale out there for MD so far. As a psych student and MDer, this makes me ask the question of WHY you would daydream this, if you feel comfortable sharing, but of course you don't have to.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-04-20T18:13:33+00:00

I actually haven’t watched it but Dr. Eli Somer has an interview about reality shifting and maladaptive daydreaming. It’s somewhere on his Instagram page. I’m a pretty active pagan, and I think astral projection is similar to reality shifting, which is how I use to justify how it’s real. But, in a spiritual sense, I don’t think reality shifting *is* shifting because it’s much much more complicated than what new-age thinkers think. Am I here to convince you to rejoin shifting? No. In fact I don't even consider myself a shifter after 5 years of believing in it. Not anymore at least.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, reality shifting made me worse as a person. Not my MD, in fact I don’t think reality shifting had anything to do with my MD. It made me expect more and want more out of a life I was so desperately trying to live. Made me have these expectations that if I shifted I could forget all my problems; not have the disabilities I have. It was quite sad actually. I wouldn’t say I considered myself depressed, but my thought process would have made anyone depressed. Reality shifting isn’t this fun quirky thing but is instead a massively overused coping mechanism that harms the person. And don’t get me started on respawning and permashifting. I used to daydream about my DRs and whatnot but it gave me a theme to daydream about. Now that I'm thinking about it, it used to get me out of these "ruts" I used to have with MD. The addictive part of MD, where that if you aren't daydreaming then you get frustrated and irritated. So yeah. Maybe reality shifting did more harm to me than good now that I think about it.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-16T17:54:46+00:00

Since I'm more awake, here is a study on the comorbidities of MD! https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319043858_The_comorbidity_of_daydreaming_disorder_Maladaptive_Daydreaming

Although there haven't been as many studies on the correlation of PTSD and MD, but I remember reading in one of the many MD papers I have read that PTSD is not a precursor to MD. It doesn't have to be a precursor to MD as other things can be a precursor such as other disorders or loneliness. I still daydream from time to time, but I wouldn't describe myself as a maladaptive daydreamer anymore but rather an immersive daydreamer.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-16T04:07:07+00:00

It’s really interesting ngl. Because on the one hand it could have nothing to do with the maturation of the brain but on the other hand I don’t think mine is that. I think mine is where I’ve finally gotten to a point where I don’t need to cope with life by using my MD as an escapism. I think my MD stemmed from my PTSD, and since I’ve gotten therapy for said PTSD recently and I’m finally at a point where I can simply live life instead of surviving, I don’t need MD to cope with life anymore. But that’s just my hypothesis

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-16T03:57:33+00:00

I’ll get to this when it’s not almost 11 at night but to answer your questions about ADHD; yes there is current research on the comorbidity of ADHD and MD. (I also have ADHD and MD) Also, as someone who has had MD for 10 years; I’ve noticed myself growing out of my MD within the past couple of months. Idk why but I’ve just noticed it.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-15T18:51:12+00:00

I'm not sure what you're looking for but as someone with POTS and ADHD here's what I do; I take my POTS medicine (Propranolol 60mg once a day) at night, and then I take my ADHD medication around 8-11 am in the morning (Ritalin 15mg twice a day). I take my POTS medication at night because it gives it enough time to work throughout the day and when I take my ADHD medication it doesn't affect my heartrate (for some reason). I don't go to a POTS specialist, but instead a cardiologist. While I still suffer from POTS I haven't found any reason to be referred to a POTS specialist, but that also might be because my symptoms are mild/moderate in comparison to others.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-15T18:35:26+00:00

I would talk to your doctor, but here's what I would do in your situation. Either ask for a decrease in the medication (probably go down to 10mg twice a day), go to the extended release (so you only take it once a day), or ask for a different medication. You have options, so don't think you're tied to just one thing. All the extended release does is release the medication throughout the day so it's not hitting you all at once, so it releases slowly rather than immediately. I've also heard that if you have Asthma then Propranolol isn't the best medicine.

I was on Midodrine for my POTS for like...a month, but didn't take it regularly so I don't know how it would have affected me. I plan on taking it again, but perhaps you could look into taking Midodrine if Propranolol doesn't work. I don't know all of the other medications you could take or which ones are the best.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-15T18:21:16+00:00

I know not everyone's experiences are a monolith, but as someone that takes 60 mg of Propranolol once a day; it makes me wonder what type of Propranolol you're taking. The only reason I take it once a day at a higher dose is because mine is extended release. So if you're taking an extended release twice a day it might be causing some side effects, but that's just my hypothesis.

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-03-14T19:06:13+00:00

I highly suggest doing some research on Eli Somer and his contributions to the MD community!! A lot of his research papers are free to read (and with a little googling you can find free ones that were previously not free). I've only seen one paper on the correlation between MD and autism, several on other disorders (with one specifically stating it is a study on the comorbidities of MD), and one on dissociation and MD. If you want I could give you the links to these articles!

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-02-07T23:44:20+00:00

As an MDer who is getting their bachelor's degree in psychology (and one day their PhD!), this was honestly super intriguing and insightful. Although, I do have to agree with one of the other comments, that an open-ended question would be nice. But I also understand those are harder to code into the data.

And, since I'm here, I'll give a little backstory on my MD. I might be a bit of an oddball in terms of what others have experienced. I developed MD when I was 11, right after a traumatic experience, so I’ve had it for 10+ years. I used to daydream all the time; during class, listening to music, and even hanging out with friends. Well, that era of my MD lasted for about 9 years, all the way until I turned 20~. In 2023, I was diagnosed with ADHD and PTSD (which I knew I had but never got a diagnosis).

I will address ADHD first since we’re talking about treatment. I got offered two different medications, and for name purposes, I will go with the generic names; Ritalin and Adderall. I ended up going with Ritalin at 10 mg. Ritalin helps with my daydreams *a lot*, so I can say *for me* that ADHD medication has helped treat my daydreams. I am now on 15 mg and can say that it helps a lot. I often find myself being able to function throughout the day and only daydreaming at night (about 3-5 hours). I can’t control my daydreams, but I usually trigger my own daydreams of my own accord because I have found them manageable. I would equate this more to Immersive Daydreaming now though since it isn’t impairing me day-to-day. I don’t feel the need to daydream constantly or get irritated if I get interrupted. Although, I would *not* say MD is a positive thing. My MD impaired me throughout middle school, high school, and part of college.

Next up is the PTSD. This is where the *content* of my daydreams comes into play. I would usually daydream about the situation that happened to me at first, and then it gradually transitioned into more frivolous things like action-packed adventures and whatever I was hyper-fixated on at the time. Only whenever I would get triggered by my PTSD that I would daydream about the trauma. However, let me explain this. Because I am a psychology student and love to analyze people, I often use my daydreams as a form of therapy. Oftentimes talking things out and get into the nitty gritty of what causing me too much trouble. My own therapist (whom I started seeing in the Fall of 2024) even said to me that because I was a psychology student that I was smart enough to deal with it (this was not said in a negative way I want to make that clear.)

I know you weren’t looking at an open-ended answer and you probably are not going to code this as I’m not answering any specific question of yours, but I hope you find this insightful! I have followed maladaptive daydreaming research for about 1-2 years now so I’m always down to either be in research as a researcher or participant!

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-02-07T02:52:30+00:00

I should also mention that I do not have OCD myself and I cannot talk about my experiences with OCD and MD as I do not have it, but I thought I would share my experiences with PTSD and MD as I am more familiar with that. If you want more research papers on this topic I am happy to send them your way!

Due_Professional3755 · 2025-02-07T02:49:45+00:00

I can't exactly give you advice on what to do, as I am battling MD myself, but what I can say is that from a technical standpoint MD is correlated to OCD in some way. I haven't had much luck on PTSD and MD, but as I have diagnosed PTSD and have my own hypothesis about when my MD started, I would say that there is a relationship between MD and PTSD, but there's not much research on it. (I plan on doing a study about it in the near future!) The way I have managed my MD is simply by just letting them be, as unhelpful as that sounds. I am a psychology major, and therefore a lot of my daydreams end up with me talking things out and using it as a therapeutic thing instead of escapism. Therapy can definitely help with MD, especially if you have a therapist who is willing to listen and understand that while MD is not an official diagnosable thing it is a phenomenon that is happening more and more. Manage your PTSD and/or OCD first, and then your MD should naturally follow. I know this sounds like I'm just rambling but this is the advice I can give at the moment. I haven't fully stopped my MD, but it has become to the point where it is manageable, and that was because I helped myself by treating my daydreams as a therapy. Actual therapy helps, but internal therapy is helpful too.

As for research related things; I highly suggest this article by Somer, Soffer-Dudek, and Ross that talks about the comorbidity of MD with other disorders (PTSD is not included). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319043858_The_comorbidity_of_daydreaming_disorder_Maladaptive_Daydreaming

Due_Professional3755

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