242. The psychology of maladaptive daydreaming

2024/10/25

The Psychology of your 20s

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听众：长期沉迷于白日梦，以至于忽略现实生活，花费大量时间在幻想中，对现实生活感到失望和后悔。 Gemma：适应不良的白日梦很常见，尤其是在20多岁的人群中，因为这个年龄段的人面临着不确定性和压力。白日梦可以暂时缓解压力、选择过载和困惑，但它是一种逃避现实的方式，尤其是在感到迷茫、焦虑、失望或心碎时。适应不良的白日梦比单纯的富有想象力或视觉思维更为复杂，它与孤独、创伤、强迫症和焦虑有关。健康的日有所思与适应不良的白日梦的区别在于，前者时间短暂且可控，而后者则会严重干扰日常生活。适应不良的白日梦会打断日常生活，让人无法专注于日常活动，具有成瘾性，让人反复沉迷其中，甚至会优先于现实生活中的活动。适应不良的白日梦中的幻想非常生动和引人入胜，如同完整的电影系列，可能涉及创造完整的虚构生活，包括事业、家庭和人际关系等，也可能涉及对过去事件的反复思考，以及对未来成功的幻想。适应不良的白日梦会让人产生失望和后悔的情绪，因为幻想与现实脱节，让人感到压力和焦虑，并渴望停止这种行为，可能导致“白日梦宿醉”或“白日梦内疚”。研究人员曾认为适应不良的白日梦是一种解离性障碍，但近年来有观点认为它是一种应对机制，并非一种疾病本身，而是孤独、创伤和抑郁等问题的症状。16项适应不良白日梦量表(MDS)可以帮助评估适应不良白日梦的严重程度，尽管适应不良白日梦已经存在多年，但用于评估其严重程度的量表直到2016年才出现。成年时患有适应不良白日梦的人，童年时期通常具有很强的创造力，童年时期的负面经历与适应不良白日梦之间存在关联，童年时期的负面经历不仅包括虐待和忽视，还包括家庭冲突、父母缺失等。适应不良的白日梦是一种逃避现实的方式，适度的逃避现实对大脑健康有益，但过度依赖逃避机制来调节情绪则会成为问题。对于一些人来说，幻想世界比现实世界更真实，他们更倾向于留在幻想世界中。适应不良的白日梦的症状不易被察觉，因为它是一种私密的行为。人们对现实世界越悲观，就越容易通过白日梦逃避现实，孤独的人更容易沉迷于适应不良的白日梦。适应不良的白日梦与焦虑之间存在关联，它可以暂时缓解焦虑情绪，但也会导致情绪回避。适应不良的白日梦与强迫症之间存在显著关联，30%到50%的强迫症患者也经历过长时间的白日梦。适应不良的白日梦会形成一个恶性循环，导致情绪恶化和强迫症症状加重。并非所有白日梦都是有害的，适度的白日梦可以帮助人们实现目标。将白日梦转化为积极的想象，可以帮助人们更快地实现目标。将适应不良的白日梦转化为有目标的积极想象，可以帮助人们更好地掌控现实生活。有目标的积极想象可以帮助人们取得更多进展，并提升目标感和行动力。积极想象是有目标、有结构、现实可行的，与适应不良的白日梦不同。积极想象是一种更健康的替代方法，可以帮助人们摆脱适应不良的白日梦。摆脱适应不良的白日梦需要人们更多地关注现实，并接受现实生活的不完美。适应不良的白日梦通常是由某种情绪或压力触发的，并非自发产生。了解触发因素是摆脱适应不良白日梦的第一步。人们可以通过改变生活来摆脱适应不良的白日梦。积极想象需要人们将精力集中在可实现的目标上，而不是漫无目的地幻想。积极想象应该关注过程，而不是仅仅关注结果。积极想象可以帮助人们理清思路，制定策略，并建立自信。积极想象结合积极思维和行动，可以形成自我实现的预言。在积极想象后，应该采取实际行动来实现目标。仅仅思考而不行动，无法实现目标。需要解决潜在的焦虑、强迫症和创伤问题，才能有效地摆脱适应不良的白日梦。没有单一的治疗方法可以治愈适应不良的白日梦，需要找到适合自己的方法。适应不良的白日梦比想象中更复杂和个人化。

Deep Dive

Key Insights

What makes daydreaming 'maladaptive'?

It disrupts daily life, feels preferable to real life, and is often vivid and compelling, pulling people away from everyday activities.

Why do people engage in maladaptive daydreaming?

It serves as a coping mechanism for stress, loneliness, trauma, anxiety, and OCD, providing a private escape from real-life discomforts.

How does maladaptive daydreaming differ from healthy daydreaming?

Healthy daydreaming is brief and controllable, while maladaptive daydreaming is excessive, disruptive, and often feels preferable to real life.

What are the signs of maladaptive daydreaming?

Spending significant time daydreaming, feeling annoyed when interrupted, and daydreaming interfering with academic or occupational success.

Is maladaptive daydreaming considered a mental health disorder?

No, it's seen as a coping strategy rather than a disorder, though there's a push to recognize it as a mental health condition.

What is the relationship between maladaptive daydreaming and creativity?

Many maladaptive daydreamers were creative children with imaginary friends, suggesting a link between early creativity and later maladaptive daydreaming.

How can maladaptive daydreaming be turned into a positive tool?

By shifting it into intentional visualization, focusing on realistic goals and using it as a motivational tool for achieving those goals.

What is the link between maladaptive daydreaming and OCD?

Maladaptive daydreaming can be a compulsion for those with OCD, providing temporary relief from intrusive, unwanted thoughts.

Why is maladaptive daydreaming often undetected?

It's a private experience with no obvious external symptoms, making it difficult for others to recognize.

How can one start to control maladaptive daydreaming?

By identifying triggers and patterns, and replacing excessive daydreaming with purposeful visualization and actionable steps.

Chapters

The episode introduces maladaptive daydreaming as a condition where individuals spend excessive time daydreaming, often to escape from real-life stressors. It distinguishes maladaptive daydreaming from normal, healthy daydreaming, highlighting the impact on daily life and emotional health.

Maladaptive daydreaming involves spending a significant portion of time daydreaming about past, future, or fictional scenarios.
It differs from healthy daydreaming by being more frequent, uncontrollable, and disruptive to daily activities.
The condition can lead to emotional distress and a preference for the imagined world over real life.

Shownotes Transcript

Daydreaming can be a perfectly normal part of life - zoning out in the shower, before we fall asleep, on the train to work. But some of us cross over into dangerous territory or what we call maladaptive daydreaming where we can't pull ourselves away from the fantasy. We feel disconnected and it makes our real life feel so much less bright and enjoyable. It can cause us a lot of distress and distraction. Why is that? And why can't we stop ourselves? In today's episode, we break down:

What makes daydreaming 'maladaptive' or 'excessive'
What are the signs + the 16 item scale for maladaptive daydreaming
The impact on our emotional health
Maladaptive daydreaming and creativity
Maladaptive daydreaming, trauma, anxiety and OCD
Is daydreaming a form of escapism?
How to turn daydreaming into intentional visualisation

Thank you to our listeners who contributed their perspective. Happy listening!

The 16 item scale here: https://traumadissociation.com/mds)

The Reddit help group: https://www.reddit.com/r/MaladaptiveDreaming/)

Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg)

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast)

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