Has anyone received help for maladaptive daydreaming?

[LetticeAndromeda]

I've finally figured out what's wrong with me. Can't work out whether to tell my gp or not, as seems to be a byproduct which gets worse when feeling low. I know it's not very well known about but I wonder if that would change my treatment plan from my gp (have been offered ssri antidepressants). It's a big part of why I have limited appetite and ability to sleep.

I'm so nervous and also very embarrassed about the whole thing.

Do ssri help with this? Any experience?

@randomlyLostInWales

Note books and campfire might be worth a try.

Are you sure you don't have a sleep problem and are blaming the maladaptive day dreaming ?- it's just never kept me awake.

It could be the time with toddler isn't very stimulating- I found it easier to be out and about with them interact with world other people and them as well - but with covid many groups aren't running and it's all harder.

Lol I can't sleep because I'm so obsessed by my daydreams, even if I'm v tired. This is the difference between MD and people who just like to daydream a lot.

Basically I get a sense of loss if don't do it, so it overtakes other normal functions (why I know it's become an issue when it wasn't before).

I'd just wondered how widely you'd looked at the sleep problems if you'd look at your sleep hygiene as sleep problems are really common
www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene
www.sleepassociation.org/about-sleep/sleep-hygiene-tips/

Or things like weighted blankets - which seem to help one of my children- lavender spray or magnesium citrate or mineral lotions or probiotics to help with falling asleep.

Though I''m sure you know your situation best.

Sorry reading that back sounds patronizing - didn't mean to was just trying explaining why I questioned the sleep situation.

I've done this from childhood and like a pp mine was a coping mechanism.

I had quite a crappy childhood and I just wasn't present a lot of the time, preferred my head to real life.

I've done it all my life but I hardly do it now because I'm happy and settled. Interestingly when I was in an abusive relationship I daydreamed a lot.

I'm not creative nor am I talented at anything, I just wanted another life I guess

Its interfered with my sleep as welland I've spent all day in the past in bed..cancelling things so I could carry on dreaming.

It's not that at all @randomlyLostInWales

Like some of the other posters it can get to a point where you want to live in your own head so much that it stops you sleeping.

@blackheartsgirl

I've done this from childhood and like a pp mine was a coping mechanism.

I had quite a crappy childhood and I just wasn't present a lot of the time, preferred my head to real life.

I've done it all my life but I hardly do it now because I'm happy and settled. Interestingly when I was in an abusive relationship I daydreamed a lot.

I'm not creative nor am I talented at anything, I just wanted another life I guess

Its interfered with my sleep as welland I've spent all day in the past in bed..cancelling things so I could carry on dreaming.

Coping mechanism here as well.

Though I still fall intensely back into it at times even when things are ok, I'll get a short term obsession with something and just want to live it in my head for a few weeks/ a month or so. It does then cause me problems, as the need to do it is overwhelming. It can stop me sleeping then.

It's different to when I was younger though, when I would pretty much be in my own world for days or weeks at a time with whatever I was doing in the real world just being incorporated into it. I was writing a book where the main character does that, except the implication is the fantasy world is also real. Never finished it as I couldn't figure out the ending.

I have had this since my childhood too as a way of coping with trauma, alongside ocd and anxiety. I’ve never seen it as a problem and I enjoy it personally. I have an entire world in my head I play out like a movie. It can take over sometimes, and I often blank out while I’m daydreaming but I can also control it. I get annoyed if people disturb me while it’s happening though as part of my ocd it has to happen in a particular way. My counsellor told me it was how I’d withdraw into myself and block out my life from when it began, it became a replacement of real life and gave me the reassurance and safety I didn’t get in real life. Some help with that would keep it under control for you. I’m in a better place now but continue to do it by choice because it’s who I am and I’d be lost without something going on in my head constantly.

I’ve never seen it as a problem and I enjoy it personally.

It's been a problem on occasion, but I do enjoy it so wouldn't want to give it up completely.