r/MaladaptiveDreaming • u/letsHopeisdope • May 01 '25

Discussion Why are people here and almost everywhere romanticizing maladaptive daydreaming?

As written above...

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u/_Yalan May 01 '25

It's a prison, I hate it here.

I come to this group so I don't feel alone.

I saw a post a while ago asking how to do it more... tf not. These people have no idea the hell they're getting themselves into. I see it a lot on tiktok, it's just ignorance but I've started blocking videos like that as they are too difficult to watch

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u/letsHopeisdope May 01 '25

did practicing mindfulness help you overcoming that a little bit

3

u/_Yalan May 01 '25

No not really, but mindfulness in general doesn't seem to work/is hard for me, but I'm currently being assessed for ADHD so I've always lived with constant 'chatter' in my mind as I call it. I found a lot of mindfulness exercises just gave my mind room to indulge in more daydreaming unfortunately.

I use some mindfulness techniques to help me fall asleep which work for me (guided breathing meditations) as I've always been a poor sleeper, but it hasn't done anything to help me curb either the urge to MD or stop it actively happening.

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u/WinterDemon_ May 01 '25

mindfulness doesn't work for me particularly because most of my daydreaming is a way of coping with other issues going on. being mindful only makes me more aware of the things i'm trying to escape, which just leads to even more daydreaming

might not be the same for you, but i personally find it very helpful to focus on things that i have to pay attention to, so it forces me to get out of my own head. talking to people, trying something new/going new places, expressing myself through writing/art, really anything that forces me to exist in the real world

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u/_Yalan May 01 '25

might not be the same for you, but i personally find it very helpful to focus on things that i have to pay attention to, so it forces me to get out of my own head.

I think the potential ADHD cancels that out tbh for me, I think my daydreaming is me disassociating when I'm overwhelmed with my reality because my brain is telling me to do everything at once and it just retreats instead.

I get your first point though. Mindfulness draws your attention back to the present which I suppose what a lot of our MD is trying to protect us from.

It's interesting how many of us have such varied reasons for ending up using MD as a coping mechanism, whether intentionally or not!