Many creative and intelligent people around the world struggle with maladaptive daydreaming. There are many chatrooms on the topic that you can find just by googling maladaptive daydreaming. You can also check out a site I created about chronic conditions, some which doctors know little about. The maladaptive daydreaming page has both press and empirical articles that you might find helpful. overcoming-together.com/maladaptive-daydreaming-disorder-mdd/

Have you managed to stop excessive day dreaming?

I have. Years ago, a doctor prescribed the medication Fluvoxamine (which is an SSRI in the same family of Prozac, Paxil etc) which has been known to help OCD symptoms. It helped me get the daydreaming under control, and I was eventually able to wean off it without the maladaptive daydreaming coming back. Of course, everyone is different, and different medication works for different people. And medication isnt for everyone. I have created a webpage on MDD and on it, I explain my story with MDD as well as link to many articles on the topic. If you are interested in exploring the idea of medication, you may want to print out some of the articles on that page and show them to a doctor. They probably wont have heard of MDD since it is not an officially recognized disease, but hopefully the doctor will be interested enough to read the articles. If not, find one who is. overcoming-together.com/maladaptive-daydreaming-disorder-mdd/

Jesus loves you all

There is hope-many people have overcome it!. Dr Eli Somer has worked on some research about treatment. you can check out his site here. daydreamresearch.wixsite.com/md-research. Some people have found that medication has helped, including me. Others have found that meditation and cognitive behavior therapy have helped. Here is a page I put together with a variety of articles on MDD overcoming-together.com/maladaptive-daydreaming-disorder-mdd/ I suggest speaking to a therapist or other mental heath professional. they will probably have never heard of MDD since it is just starting to be researched now, but you can print some of the articles out on these links and show them to the therapist/doctor so they can see it is a real disorder currently under study. If they arent interested in learning about it, keep looking for a new one until you find one who is.

@@overcoming-togetherbyjayne3857 thank you

That's a good idea. I will make sure that I touch on that for the next video. It is important to keep in mind though that what works for one person might not work for another. Luvox worked for me and other medications didnt. But I have heard from others that prozac and Paxil worked for them (even though they didnt work for me.) And I have from some people that medication didnt work at all. A lot of it is trial and error-but I do think that Luvox is a good starting place.

So sorry to hear this! I think the roots of my MD also came from medical gaslighting and trauma. I had autoimmune issues my whole life starting in childhood and doctors either didnt believe me or couldnt find anything wrong. Have you been to a rheumatologist as I hear that some of long-term Covid could be autoimmune? Sending healing thoughts your way!

In my experience, a lot of people have MDD and another psychological disorder. I know of people with MDD and OCD, MDD and ADHD, MDD and Aspergers and MDD and social anxiety. I have also heard of some people who just have MDD. Some people with MDD are also mistakenly diagnosed with ADHD-and really just have MDD but some do have both. We honestly just dont know if MDD is a disorder on its own or a symptom of many disorder or both. For example, insomnia can be a disorder on its own or a symptom of other disorders just as depression, anxiety etc. I would be interested in what other people have been diagnosed with.

@@overcoming-togetherbyjayne3857 many thanks for your feedbacks Jayne !

Hey i have an appointment with a doctor about potentially having adhd i also md and have done so since childhood how did you find out you have adhd? Like what were the signs and how can you tell the difference between md related symptoms and adhd symptoms?

@@cannonballlight4939 thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, it's not an easy question to answer since MDD is not yet an officially recognized disorder, and sometimes MDD is mistakenly diagnosed as ADHD. There are many tools used to help assess for ADHD, so hopefully your doctor should be able to screen for ADHD. Since most doctors have not heard of MDD, you may want to print out some of the articles on overcoming-together.com/maladaptive-daydreaming-disorder-mdd/ to let your doctor know that MDD is a real disorder currently under study. (if this doctor isnt interested in learning more about MDD, then find another doctor). MDD is more about the intentional creation of fictional stories which is quite different from the inattentiveness and impulsivity found in ADHD.

It does to me! I feel that way and I have heard from many others who also feel that way. I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this as well.

Yes, it is depressing.

Interesting question. I'm not sure. I would be interested in hearing more about your thoughts on it. For me, MDD helped me experience different emotions and when I was a child I sometimes used the emotions I experienced in real life to fuel my daydreams, but I'm not sure that it helped me regulate my real life emotions.

Most therapists/mental health professionals will not have heard of MDD-since it is not yet a recognized disorder in the DSM. I recommend giving her some material to read about it. I created the following page on MDD where I put a variety of articles, including both press and journal/academic articles. The article I did for the Atlantic is on there which gives a good overview. Showing her some of the empirical/journal articles will help her see that it is a real disorder currently under study. If she is not interested in learning about it, find a different therapist who is. overcoming-together.com/maladaptive-daydreaming-disorder-mdd/

@@overcoming-togetherbyjayne3857 thank you. And I greatly appreciate you bringing awareness to MD

Sorry just seeing this now. There was a period of time that I didnt need any medicine at all to control it. But that changes, right now I'm on a very small dose.

. I usually tell most of the parents I speak with that they should not make a big deal about the daydreaming and instead encourage the child to find hobbies and extracurricular activities in the real world they are passionate about. It is hard to be daydreaming when involved with your favorite activities. Daydreaming in an enhanced fashion is only a problem if it interferes with one's life and you usually need to wait until the child is older to let them weigh in as to whether it is interfering with their life. In case you are interested, I have several interviews and articles about MDD on a website I created about chronic conditions here overcoming-together.com/maladaptive-daydreaming-disorder-mdd/