So what is it? And how can it be treated? With research revealing that as many as one in 40 people may experience these problems, it seems increasingly likely that “maladaptive daydreaming” will soon be formally recognised as a psychiatric disorder. At their best, these vivid and compulsive fantasies can be a source of pleasure and comfort, but they can also be a serious cause of procrastination and distraction, and can prevent people from maintaining their social connections, looking after their health or even eating regular meals. Such reports are of increasing interest to psychologists, who have started to identify a subset of the population marked for their unusually immersive daydreams. On average, she now spends about three hours a day immersed in daydreams, but on bad days in the past, she could spend as many as six hours locked in her inner world. “I put off so many things – but in the moment it feels so good,” she says. “As soon as I wake up, I want to daydream.”Īt college, she would become so lost in these imaginings that she would forget to study for her exams or run errands.
She’ll replay the same scenario, tweaking the details – a process she finds incredibly pleasurable. Her daydreams centre on conversations with different characters – some real, some imaginary.
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