IAHRW International Journal of Social Sciences Review

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Maladaptive Daydreaming: Overview


Affiliations
1 B.Sc. Student, Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Maharashtra, India
2 Teaching Faculty, Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Maharashtra, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


This review involves an in-depth look at the available literature on Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD), a compulsive condition of creating fake scenarios that lead to immense distress and issues in various domains of life. The fake scenarios are continuous and are initiated by music, image, and speech. Neuro-biologically, the cognitive activities associated with this condition have their bases in the default mode network of the brain. On one hand, MD promotes creativity, future planning, and self-awareness but on the other hand, it makes it hard to engage in daily activities fully by creating performance issues and distractions. Psycho-dynamically, an Ambivalent-fearful type attachment style can be seen in maladaptive daydreamers. In certain cases, this condition might take the form of celebrity worship and reality shifting. Keeping the severity and issues created by this condition in our mind, we have carefully explored the peripheral facets of Maladaptive Daydreaming to reach to its core.

Keywords

Maladaptive Daydreaming, Childhood Trauma, Reality Shifting, Celebrity Worship.
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Kaiser, R. H., Turner, A. E., Reineberg, A. E., Godinez, D., Dimidjian, S., & Banich, M. T. (2013). A penny for your thoughts: Dimensions of self-generated thought content and relationships with individual differences in emotional well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 900. https://doi.org/10.3389 /fpsyg.2013.00900

  • Ashe, D. D., & McCutcheon, L. E. (2001). Shyness, loneliness, and attitude toward celebrities. Current Research in Social Psychology, 6(9), 124-133.

  • Bigelsen, J., Lehrfeld, J.M., Jopp, D.S., & Somer, E. (2016). Maladaptive daydreaming: Evidence for an under-researched mental health disorder. Consciousness and Cognition, 42, 254-266. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.03.017. Epub 2016 Apr 12. PMID: 27082138.

  • Bigelsen, J., Lehrfeld, J. M., Jopp, D. S., & Somer, E. (2016). Maladaptive daydreaming: Evidence for an under-researched mental health disorder. Consciousness and Cognition, 42, 254-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.03.017.

  • Brenner, R., Somer, E., & Abu-Rayya, H. M. (2022). Personality traits and maladaptive daydreaming: Fantasy functions and themes in a multi-country sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2 021.111194

  • Canpolat, M. (2022). The way university students cope with real-world problems: Daydreaming. International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies, 9(2), 417-426 . Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/pes/issue/69240/1096731

  • Cooke, J. E., Kochendorfer, L. B., Stuart-Parrigon, K. L., Koehn, A. J., & Kerns, K. A. (2019). Parent-child attachment and children's experience and regulation of emotion: A meta-analytic review. Emotion, 19(6), 1103-1126. https://doi.org/10 .1037/emo0000504

  • Di Blasi, M., Giardina, A., Lo Coco, G., Giordano, C.G., Billieux, J., & Schimmenti, A. (2020). A compensatory model to understand dysfunctional personality traits in problematic gaming: The role of vulnerable narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences, 160, 2020. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.109921

  • Dujic, G., Anticevic, V., & Misetic, I. (2020). Contribution of maladaptive daydreaming to the level of psychological distress and copingstrategies. Social Psychiatry, 48, 3- 19. (16) (PDF) Examining the Concept of Maladaptive Daydreaming Using Film Analysis Method. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352 937412_Examining_the_Concept_of_Maladaptive_Daydreaming_Using_Film_A nalysis_Method [accessed Sep 16 2022].

  • Feeney, B. C., & Van Vleet, M. (2010). Growing through attachment: The interplay of attachment and exploration in adulthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27(2), 226-234. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407509360903

  • Ferrante, E., Marino, A., Guglielmucci, F., & Schimmenti, A. (2020). The mediating role of dissociation and shame in the relationship between emotional trauma and maladaptive daydreaming. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 9(1), 27–39. doi: 10.1037/cns0000253.

  • Finkelhor, D., & Browne, A. (1985). The traumatic impact of child sexual abuse: A conceptualization. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 55(4), 530-541. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1985.tb02703.x. PMID: 4073225.

  • Finkelhor, D., & Browne, A. (1985). The traumatic impact of child sexual abuse: A conceptualization. Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 55, 530-541.

  • Flanagan, C. M. (2014). Unmet needs and maladaptive modes: A new way to approach longer-term problems. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 24(3), 208-222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037513

  • Freud, S. (1962). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London, Hogarth

  • Freud, A. (2004). Self and defense mechanisms (Trans. Y. Erim). Metis Publications (Original air date, 1939).

  • Greenwood, D. N., & Long, C. R. (2011). Attachment, belongingness needs, andrelationship status predict imagined intimacy with media figures. Communication Research, 38(2), 278-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502 10362687

  • Greenwood, D.N., Long, C.R., & Cin, S.D. (2013). Fame and the social self: The need to belong, narcissism, and relatedness predict the appeal of fame. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 490-495.

  • Hisham, M., & Rayyaa, A. (2020). Childhood trauma and maladaptive daydreaming: Fantasy functions and themes in a multi-country sample. https://www.research gate.net/publication/360108429_Relationship_Status_and_Celebrity_Worship_Ex ploring_Differences_in_Maladaptive_Daydreaming_Engagement_and_Body_Ap preciation_across_Single_and_Partnered_Women [accessed Sep 16 2022].

  • Houran, J., Navik, S., & Zerrusen, K. (2005). Boundary functioning in celebrity worshippers. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(1), 237-248, ISSN 0191- 8869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.04.014. (https://www.sciencedirect.com /science/article/pii/S019188690400114X)

  • IPSOS (2014). Youth of Turkey: With their dreams, values, concerns and daily lives. Https://www.ipsos.com/tr-tr/turkiyenin-gencleri-hayalleri-degerleri-endiseleri-vegunluk- hayatlariyla

  • Jayne, B., & Cynthia, S. (2011). Compulsive fantasy: Proposed evidence of an underreported syndrome through a systematic study of 90 self-identified non-normative fantasizers. Consciousness and Cognition, 20, 1634-1648. 10.1016/j.concog.20 11.08.013.

  • Kappes, H.B., Stephens, E.J., & Oettingen, G. (2011). Implicit theories moderate the relation of positive future fantasies to academic outcomes. Journal of Research in Personality, 45, 269-278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2011.02.006

  • Kardefelt-Winther, D., Heeren, A., Schimmenti, A., Rooij, A. V., Maurage, P., Carras, M., & Billieux, J. (2017). How can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours? Addiction, 112(10), 1709-1715. Doi: https://doi. Org/10.1111/add.13763

  • Keizer, R., Helmerhorst, K. O. W., & van Rijn-van Gelderen, L. (2019). Perceived quality of the mother-adolescent and father-adolescent attachment relationship and adolescents' self-esteem. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(6), 1203-1217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01007-0

  • Krisztina, M., McCutcheon, L., & Agnes, Z. (2022). Relationship status and celebrity worship: Exploring differences in maladaptive daydreaming, engagement, and body appreciation across single and partnered women. North American Journal of Psychology, 24, 235-256. (2018) Hartmann, T., & Goldhoorn, C. (2011). Horton and Wohl revisited: Exploring viewers' experience of parasocial interaction. Journal of Communication, 61(6), 1104-1121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.015 95.x

  • Khantzian, E.J. (1997). The self-medication hypothesis of substance use disorders: A reconsideration and recent applications. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 4, 231-244. doi: 10.3109/10673229709030550

  • Khantzian, E. J., & Treece, C. (1985). DSM-III psychiatric diagnosis of narcotic addicts. Recent fndings. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42(11), 1067-1071. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1985. 01790340045007

  • Liebers, N. (2021). Unfulfilled romantic needs: Effects of relationship status, presence of romantic partners, and relationship satisfaction on romantic parasocial phenomena. Psychology of Popular Media. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000351 (16) (PDF) Relationship Status and Celebrity Worship: Exploring Differences in Maladaptive Daydreaming, Engagement, and Body Appreciation across Single and Partnered Women. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/36 0108429_Relationship_Status_and_Celebrity_Worship_Exploring_Differences_in _Maladaptive_Daydreaming_Engagement_and_Body_Appreciation_across_Singl e_and_Partnered_Women [accessed Sep 16 2022].

  • Linde, A. (2017). A brief history of the multiverse. Reports on Progress in Physics, 80(2), 022001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/aa50e4

  • Liu, C. H., Zhang, E., Wong, G., Hyun, S., & Hahm, H. C. (2020). Factors associated with depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptomatology during the COVID-19 pandemic: Clinical implications for U.S. young adult mental health. Psychiatry Research, 290, 113172. 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113172

  • Maltby, J., Day, L., McCutcheon, L.E., Houran, J., & Ashe, D. (2006). Extreme celebrity worship, fantasy proneness and dissociation: Developing the measurement and understanding of celebrity worship within a clinical personality context. Personality and Individual Differences, 40(2) 273-283, ISSN 0191-8869. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.paid.2005.07.004. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S 0191886905002552)

  • Maffetone, P. (2018). The interpretation of daydreams. Dr. Phil Maffetone. Retrieved 15 July 2022, from https://philmaffetone.com/the-interpretation-of-daydreams/

  • Malekpour, M. (2007). Effects of attachment on early and later development. The British Journal of Development Disabilities, 53(105), 81-95. https://doi.org/10.1179/0969 79507799103360

  • McMillan, R., Kaufman, S. B., & Singer, J. L. (2013). Ode to positive constructive daydreaming. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.201 3.00626

  • Mcmillan, R., Kaufman, S., & Singer, J. (2013). Ode to positive constructive daydreaming. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 626. 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00626.

  • McVay, J. C., & Kane, M. J. (2010). Does mind wandering reflect executive function or executive failure? Comment on Smallwood and Schooler (2006) and Watkins (2008). Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 188-197. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018298

  • Mitchell, M. (2016). Daydreaming: Not a useless waste of time. Psychology Today. Retrieved 15 July 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/themoment- youth/201603/daydreaming-not-useless-waste-time.

  • Pace, U., Schimmenti, A., Zappulla, C., & Di Maggio, R. (2013). Psychological variables characterizing different types of adolescent gamblers: A discriminant function analysis. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 10, 25-39.

  • Park, K., Shim, G., & Jeong, B. (2020). Validation of the traumatic antecedents questionnaire using item response theory. Brain and Behavior, 10(12), e01870. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1870 (16) (PDF) Childhood traumatization and dissociative experiences among maladaptive and normal daydreamers in a Hungarian sample. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3 54211305_Child hood_traumatization_and_dissociative_experiences_amon g_maladaptive_and_normal_daydreamers_in_a_Hungarian_sample [accessed Sep 16 2022].

  • Perales, J. C., King, D. L., Navas, J. F., Schimmenti, A., Sescousse, G., Starcevic, V., van Holst, R. J., & Billieux, J. (2020). Learning to lose control: A process-based account of behavioral addiction. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 771-780. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.025

  • Pietkiewicz, I.J., Nęcki, S., Banbura, A., & Tomalski, R. (2018). Maladaptive daydreaming as a new form of behavioral addiction. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(3), 838-843. doi: 10.1556/2006.7.2018.95. Epub 2018 Sep 21. PMID: 30238787; PMCID: PMC6426361.

  • Raichle, M.E., MacLeod, A.M., Snyder, A.Z., Powers, W.J., Gusnard, D.A., & Shulman, G.L. (2001). A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98(2), 676-682. doi: 10.1073/pnas.98 .2.676. PMID: 11209064; PMCID: PMC14647.

  • Reeves, R., Gountas, J., Gountas, S., & Moran, L. (2012). Desire for fame: Scale Development and association with personal goals and aspirations. Psychology and Marketing, 29(9), 680-689. 10.1002/mar.20554.

  • S.K. Brooks FANatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research Current Psychology

  • Sanders, B. (1992). The imaginary companions' experience in multiple personality disorder. Dissociation, 5(3), 160-163.

  • Sandor, A., Bugan, A., Nagy, A., Bogdan, L., & Molnar, J. (2021). Attachment characteristics and emotion regulation difficulties among maladaptive and normal daydreamers. Current Psychology. 1-18. 10.1007/s12144-021-01546-5.

  • Schimmenti, A., Somer, E., & Regis, M. (2019). Maladaptive daydreaming: Towards a nosological definition. Academia.edu. Retrieved 15 July 2022, from https://www .academia.edu/40805598/Maladaptive_daydreaming_Towards_a_nosological_def inition_R%C3%AAverie_inadapte_e_vers_une_de_finition_nosologique.

  • Sharma, P., & Mahapatra, A. (2021). Phenomenological analysis of maladaptive daydreaming as a new form of behavioral addiction: A case series. Indian Association for Social Psychiatry, 37, 280-282. Available from: https://www.indjsp. Org/text.asp?2021/37/3/280/327286

  • Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. (2014). The science of mind wandering: Empirically navigating the stream of consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 487-518. 10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015331.

  • Somer, E. (2018). Maladaptive daydreaming: Ontological analysis, treatment rationale: A pilot case report. Frontiers in the Psychotherapy of Trauma and Dissociation, 1, 1–22.

  • Somer, E., Abu-Raya, H.M., & Nsairy-Simaan, Z. (2019). Maladaptive daydreaming among recovering substance use disorder patients: Prevalence and mediation of the relationship between childhood trauma and dissociation. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17, 206-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018- 0011-9

  • Somer, E., Abu-Raya, H.M., & Nsairy Simaan, Z. (2018). Maladaptive daydreaming among recovering substance use disorder patients: Prevalence and mediation of the relationship between childhood trauma and dissociation. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17, 206-216.

  • Somer, E., Cardeña, E., Catelan, R.F., & Soffer-Dudek, N. (2021). Reality shifting: psychological features of an emergent online daydreaming culture. Current Psychology, 2021, 1-13. Https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02439-3

  • Somer, E., Soffer-Dudek, N., Ross, C. A., & Halpern, N. (2017). Maladaptive daydreaming: Proposed diagnostic criteria and their assessment with a structured clinical interview. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4(2), 176-189. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000114

  • Somer, E., Somer, L., & Jopp, S. D. (2016). Parallel lives: A phenomenological study of the lived experience of maladaptive daydreaming. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 17, 561-576. 10.1080/15299732.2016.1160463.

  • Somer, E., Abu-Rayya, H., Brenner, R. (2020). Childhood trauma and maladaptive daydreaming: Fantasy functions and themes in a multi-country sample. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 22(3), 288-303. 10.1080/15299732.2020.1809599.

  • Somer, E., & Herscu, O. (2017). Childhood trauma, social anxiety, absorption and fantasy dependence: Two potential mediated pathways to maladaptive daydreaming. Journal of Addictive Behaviors, Therapy and Rehabilitation, 6(4), 1-5. 10.4172/2324-9005.1000170.

  • Somer, E., Somer, L., & Jopp, D. (2016). Parallel lives: A phenomenological study of the lived experience of maladaptive daydreaming. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 17(5), 561–576. 10.1080/15299732.2016.1160463.

  • Somer, E. (2002). Maladaptive daydreaming: A qualitative inquiry. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 32, 197-212. 10.1023/A:1020597026919.

  • Somer, E. (2018). Maladaptive daydreaming: Ontological analysis, treatment rationale: A pilot case report. Frontiers in the Psychotherapy of Trauma and Dissociation, 1, 1- 22. 10.XXXX/ftpd.2017.0006.

  • Suh, J.J., Ruffins, S., Robins, C.E., Albanese, M.J., & Khantzian, E.J. (2008). Selfmedication hypothesis: Connecting affective experience and drug choice. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 25, 518-532. doi: 10.1037/0736-9735.25.3.518

  • Summer, J. (2022). Maladaptive daydreaming: Symptoms and diagnosis │ sleep foundation. Sleepfoundation.org. Retrieved 16 September 2022, from https://www. sleepfoundation.org/mental-health/maladaptive daydreaming#:~:text=Sometime s%20known%20as%20daydreaming%20disorder ,people%20in%20front%20of% 20them.

  • Taylor, S. E., Pham, L. B., Rivkin, I. D., & Armor, D. A. (1998). Harnessing the imagination: Mental stimulation, self-regulation, and coping. American Psychologist, 53, 429-439. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.53.4.4 29tb02703.x

  • Van Tillburg, M., Vingerhoets, A., & Van Heck, G. (1999). Determinants of Homesickness chronicity: Coping and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 27(3), 531-539. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00262-1

  • Wilson, S. C., & Barber, T. X. (1982). The fantasy-prone personality: Implications for understanding imagery, hypnosis, and parapsychological phenomena. PSI Research, 1(3), 94-116.

  • Witkin, M. (2019). Retrieved 15 July r2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publi cation/330270453_Maladaptive_daydreaming_Is_it_a_real_thing.

  • Yam, & Caner, F. (2021). Examining the concept of maladaptive daydreaming- ProQuest. Proquest.com. Retrieved 15 July 2022, from https://www.proquest.com /scholarly-journals/examining-concept-maladaptive-daydreaming-using/docview /2618437544/se-2.

  • Zhiyan, T., & Singer, J. L. (1997). Daydreaming styles, emotionality and the Big Five personality dimensions. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 16(4), 399-414. https://doi.org/10.2190/ATEH-96EV-EXYX-2ADB

  • Zsila, A., Urban, R., McCutcheon, L.E., & Demetrovics, Z. (2019). A path analytic review of the association between psychiatric symptoms and celebrity worship: The mediating role of maladaptive daydreaming and desire for fame. Personality and Individual Differences, 151, 109511, ISSN 0191-8869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.p aid.2019.109511. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886 91930443X)

  • Zsila, A., McCutcheon, L. E., & Demetrovics, Z. S. (2018). The association of celebrity worship with problematic Internet use, maladaptive daydreaming, and desire for fame. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7(3), 654-664. https://doi.org/10.1556/200 6.7.2018.76 (16) (PDF) Relationship Status and Celebrity Worship: Exploring Differences in Maladaptive Daydreaming, Engagement, and Body Appreciation across Single and Partnered Women. Available from: https://www.researchgate.ne t/publication/360108429_Relationship_Status_and_Celebrity_Worship_Exploring _Differences_in_Maladaptive_Daydreaming_Engagement_and_Body_Appreciati on_across_Single_and_Partnered_Women [accessed Sep 16 2022].


Abstract Views: 184

PDF Views: 0




  • Maladaptive Daydreaming: Overview

Abstract Views: 184  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Shubh Rana
B.Sc. Student, Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Maharashtra, India
Mahimna Vyas
Teaching Faculty, Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Maharashtra, India

Abstract


This review involves an in-depth look at the available literature on Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD), a compulsive condition of creating fake scenarios that lead to immense distress and issues in various domains of life. The fake scenarios are continuous and are initiated by music, image, and speech. Neuro-biologically, the cognitive activities associated with this condition have their bases in the default mode network of the brain. On one hand, MD promotes creativity, future planning, and self-awareness but on the other hand, it makes it hard to engage in daily activities fully by creating performance issues and distractions. Psycho-dynamically, an Ambivalent-fearful type attachment style can be seen in maladaptive daydreamers. In certain cases, this condition might take the form of celebrity worship and reality shifting. Keeping the severity and issues created by this condition in our mind, we have carefully explored the peripheral facets of Maladaptive Daydreaming to reach to its core.

Keywords


Maladaptive Daydreaming, Childhood Trauma, Reality Shifting, Celebrity Worship.

References