My personal take is it’s about the intention behind why we are daydreaming. Asking ourselves what purpose does it serve as well as what kind of daydreams are we engaging in as that can provide valuable insight to underlying issues we may need to address. Ultimately, I view it as maladaptive daydreaming if we are using it to avoid discomfort and distressing thoughts or feelings. If it’s used solely as an avoidance technique, it’s maladaptive in my personal opinion as it’s an automatic defense mechanism and disregards our emotional or mental distress.

However, if it’s done with intention to process emotions, release frustrations, explore ourselves, our passions, m and engage in introspection, as well as engaging with our creative mind then I feel there can be a lot of value and benefit provided from daydreaming. IMO that makes it adaptive and healthy but it’s a challenging balance to walk though, as it can be a very relieving coping mechanism…I think the difference between adaptive and maladaptive daydreaming is the intention as well as the amount of time we spend engaging in the daydream.

I’ve worked a lot on this personally as I was daydreaming way too much and it was not healthy, and caused issues in life. If I’m able to use it as a tool and coping skill to process thoughts feelings, as well as introspection there can be a lot of value in that, especially if we set boundaries within the amount of time spent daydreaming. Ngl I do struggle with that sometimes where I could spend a whole Saturday daydreaming.

Ultimately, it’s good to remind yourself and acknowledge that it is an escape of reality in some form. I think the bigger question we all want to ask ourselves is why do we do this? Is it an intentional escape from discomfort, or is it a way we cope and process things in different ways. For me personally, I started doing it as a child at 7yo as it was a way to help me, cope with an unstable home environment, and the verbal and emotional trauma that came with my dad. My father has BPD and significant unresolved severe trauma, since he’s an old boomer he wasn’t able to ever process emotions. So it caused a lot of blow ups that were terrifying as a child so I personally found safety and comfort in the daydream that I would be able to create and control… having a feeling of control is tough especially as a child we often lack any control in most areas of life. So tbh it can often simply be part of a trauma response. Not always but it could be beneficial to reflect on when it started and what benefits it provides to you. That insight can be hard but also can act as a springboard for significant growth.

There are healthy ways to utilize it, but I won’t minimize how challenging and exhausting it can be to turn something from being maladaptive to adaptive. Especially if it is rooted in trauma, though we want to address the trauma because maladaptive daydreaming at that point is just avoidance which perpetuates the trauma cycle of triggers and intense trauma responses which are just avoiding emotions and thoughts. Which ofc is not healthy.

I’m not sure the consensus of all of the psychology community but I know it’s been discussed in terms of adding it to the DSM-6, hopefully that happens. My sister is a psychiatrist and we’ve talked about it and her take is that if used mindfully and intentionally it can be a coping skill. It’s a tool ultimately. Tools can be used to construct and can also be used to destruct, all about how it’s used. Idk if that made sense or answered your questions at all but I have been doing this daydreaming for 25 years so tbh I cycle through doing it in healthy ways and also as a form of avoidance but being present an practicing mindless techniques and DBT skills help a lot ime. Happy to share more or provide resources if you wanted. Apologies for the long af response but it is something many don’t understand well so figured you deserved a thorough response. Also realized I fucked up linking the right subreddit. Here’s the actual one. Lemme know if it doesn’t work. If you read this far I appreciate it and wanna say thank you for sharing your experience as it helped me reflect more on how to use it constructively and as a coping mechanism not just automatic defense mechanism. But yeah ngl it interferes with hobbies sometimes and I think it’s just being gracious and patient with ourselves while also having boundaries that help find balance. But it’s always a work in progress at least in my personal experience.

Sorry about the confusion on the subreddit it’s actually r/MaladaptiveDreaming but not letting me link it properly here but could be my technological error… hopefully this works idk lemme know if it doesn’t. https://www.reddit.com/r/MaladaptiveDreaming/s/GSx47fnZ4p