All about maladaptive daydreaming disorder
What is maladaptive daydreaming?
Maladaptive daydreaming, also sometimes referred to as daydreaming disorder, is a condition where someone has intense and highly distracting daydreams daily. These daydreams can be triggered by real life events or stimuli (ex: noise, smell, conversation topic, movie).
Symptoms:
Symptoms include daydreams lasting minutes-hours, an addictive desire to keep them going, and trouble sleeping.
Other facts:
Maladaptive daydreaming sometimes develops as a coping method for people in response to trauma, making them feel like their inner world is safer than what's happening outside.
Maladaptive daydreaming was first defined in 2002
This condition tends to be more common with people who have anxiety, depression, or OCD
A few things that could help treat it is improving sleep quality, reducing fatigue during the day, and therapy.
Source:
Meadows, Austin. "Maladaptive Daydreaming." Edited by Heather Wright. Sleep Foundation, 11 Mar. 2022, www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health/maladaptive-daydreaming#:~:text=a%20maladaptive%20daydreamer.-,What%20Is%20Maladaptive%20Daydreaming%3F,people%20in%20front%20of%20them. Accessed 1 Apr. 2022.
Authors note
This book took around two weeks to write but I'm glad I did it. It's the first book I've ever written for a competition, and no matter what happens I'm proud I gave it a shot. Thank you reader for taking the time to read this, and more importantly thank you to all my friends who made a small contribution to this. After writing, you all helped me by giving feedback and you all gave me motivation to finish writing. Most importantly, thank you to my number one fan who was my biggest supporter. You were there when I needed it, and you never failed to give me motivation to keep going. You're the reason why this book exists, and the reason why I want to keep writing.
I believe representation is important, and my idea originally was to write about someone who loves to imagine themselves in an amusement park. I eventually realized that I could tie this idea in with representation for maladaptive daydreaming disorder, which seemed like a great idea. I discussed this idea with my number one fan who also happens to be my best friend, who told me they had this disorder. As soon as they said it, I knew I had to use this idea and do my best. I appreciate the fact that he stood by my side the whole time, and it makes me happy knowing that I wrote something special for him.
