Maladaptive daydreaming disorder (MDD), also known as excessive daydreaming, involves vivid and excessive fantasy activity with elaborate and complex scenarios. Sometimes the daydreamer borrows characters from favorite books, video games, television shows and movies and makes up their own plots. Others make up their own cast of fantasy characters. People with MDD know that their daydream worlds are not real and never confuse real life with their fantasy worlds. Those with MDD usually enjoy and even love their daydream worlds. However, the daydreaming can result in distress, as it can sometimes replace human interaction and may interfere with normal functioning such as social life or work. People with MDD have trouble limiting their daydreaming and often complain that they find it compulsive or addictive. Maladaptive Daydreamers can spend more than half their days in “vivid alternative universes.”
Maladaptive daydreaming is typically associated with stereotypical movements, such as pacing or rocking, and the need for musical stimulation. Researchers on the topic include Jayne Bigelsen, Dr. Cynthia Schupak, Dr. Daniella Jopp and Dr. Eli Somer who coined the term Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder. Somer’s definition of the condition is “extensive fantasy activity that replaces human interaction and/or interferes with academic, interpersonal, or vocational functioning.” It is important to note that not everyone who daydreams in this elaborate, vivid manner has MDD. Enhanced, vivid daydreaming only becomes a problem if the person experiencing it believes that it is interfering with his or her life, usually due to the inability to limit it and the time it takes away from pursuing real life activities.
