- Date posted
- 40w
Maladaptive daydreaming
Anyone struggle with this with having ocd?
Anyone struggle with this with having ocd?
Absolutely. Had it since I've been a kid. I genuinely spend half of my life in my imagination. I've heard that it often goes hand in hand with ocd, and some people with ocd I talk to struggle with it too. So I think it's a pretty common case
I hate it cause it makes me think I'm going crazy
Like a lot of us, had it since being a kid. It made listening to music kind of fun, I would picture songs as trailers to hypothetical movies that I would come up with. The only detrimental part is that it gets in the way of being present, which is something that all of us should strive to do. These days, I've gotten better at sliding in and out of these daydreaming sessions, still using music. Maybe it would be possible to allow yourself to be free to daydream in specific moments of the day, when it's most convenient.
Yes omg, I create Worlds around my favorite Shows or movies at that time, right now it's doctor who, it's like I create a world for myself inside of the show
Yes, ever since I was a Kid, it got worse as an adult because I use it to cope with real life issues as well as OCD issues. And now religious OCD has attached itself to it making me believe that it’s a sin and that I am going to hell, which has been a thought before and was triggered by a social media posts and what triggered it again was a TikTok of someone saying the same thing. And since I know Maladaptive daydreaming isn’t the best for me I believe it’s God telling me that it is a sin and that I should stop, however it’s not that simple and also Maladaptive daydreaming is a coping mechanism not a sin.
I suffered with that too
I’ve always struggled with maladaptive daydreaming I’ve stopped but I have harm ocd and my brain would hook onto a true crime story and I’d pretend to be a family member/loved one/victim of a k*ller and would make up elaborate stories abt it. That feels so disgusting I’m so scared this shows in a horrible person doesn’t it? And now my brain is telling me I have found k*llers attractive in the past I don’t think I ever did but what if I did I’m scared
I’ve always struggled with maladaptive daydreaming I’ve stopped but I have harm ocd and my brain would hook onto a true crime story and I’d pretend to be a family member/loved one/victim of a kller and would make up elaborate stories abt it. That feels so disgusting I’m so scared this shows in a horrible person doesn’t it? And now my brain is telling me I have found kllers attractive in the past I don’t think I ever did but what if I did I’m scared and I daydreamed about k*lling a man if he ever SA my niece these feel so violent they were at least MONTHS ago but I am ashamed and truly would like support.
Does anyone else here daydream maladaptively? Well, I do a lot and my OCD has latched onto that as “proof” that my fear is real due to do contents of my daydreams. To preface I’m 14 and most of my daydreams consist of boys that I like so like 85% of my day is just me daydreaming about these boys in a fantasy world that I built in my head for them. The thing is I have ADHD and I’m super hyperactive and I require a lot of movement to engage in my daydreams (and with engaging in anything in general tbh) so I’m always just randomly walking/running around the house daydreaming. Anyway sometimes I’ll make the same faces my character makes in the daydream and also do like hand movements they do. And I’ve been ruminating about this for months because I’m like “does that count as imagining myself as a boy?” due to the fact that most of the characters in my daydreaming world are male and I panic. I would never imagine myself as a boy in that sense because it makes me uncomfortable, like ever since I got this theme, whenever I walk by a mirror I get these intrusive images of the boy I like starring back at me in the mirror and I get super uncomfortable. It’s like a punch in the gut. I don’t want to look like those boys at all and I know that if I was one of them I would hate my appearance and hate looking in the mirror, no matter how attractive they are. Or when I’m doing something my OCD will imagine ME doing it as a boy like in first person and with the intent of me being a boy and that also really triggers me because that’s not what I want and it makes me real uncomfortable. What I DO want is to daydream about boys, but not about being a boy. But isn’t that what I’ve been doing this whole time without realizing? Like I’m so wrapped in my daydreams that when I’m doing anything I go “Hm I wonder what [my crush] would do in this situation” and imagine him doing it but in a completely different setting and with some changes to the activity added. That really scares me because I go “what if that means I’m a boy” and I get really distressed because I don’t wanna be a boy. I don’t view any of the boys on my daydream as me at all and like, I don’t daydream with the intent to be a boy because that’s the least of my desires, all I do is want to think about boys because boys are cute ofc and I like them. But I’m still really scared. Is my OCD possibly twisting things or am I in denial? :(
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