Dimmer – Maladaptive Daydreaming Center

2Feb

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Announcement, Media

The MD Podcast Back for Season Three!

Parallel Lives Podcast Returns to YouTube and Spotify Dimmer and Q return for season three of Parallel Lives; An MD Podcast. Parallel Lives posts a new episode on the 1st and 15th of every month, February through October. Topics cover the length and breadth of the MD experience and feature guests from the MD community. If you'd like to suggest a topic you can contact the show via ContactParallelLives@gmail.com Below is Episode1, Season3 on YouTube. You can find the show on Anchor (which links to other platforms , such as Spotify) HERE https://youtu.be/ZPcUI5FFm4A

Mindfulness meditation and self-monitoring reduced maladaptive daydreaming symptoms: A randomized controlled trial of a brief self-guided web-based program.

26Jan

By DimmerNo Comments

Informative, Research

Mindfulness meditation and self-monitoring reduced maladaptive daydreaming symptoms: A randomized controlled trial of a brief self-guided web-based program.

New Study Published From the Abstract: All MD measures assessing daydreaming pathology, daydreaming frequency, and life functioning showed significant improvement with a large effect size (ES) from baseline to posttreatment in both intervention groups, whereas the wait-list group showed no significant improvement.Mindfulness with self-monitoring training for MD was superior to mindfulness alone in the short term, but they both were equally efficient in the long term. Both interventions were superior to relying on internet-based support forums only. The clinically significant improvement rate of mindfulness with self-monitoring training was 24%, while the reliable improvement rate reached 39%. At the 6-month follow-up, achievements were maintained. Herscu, O., Somer, E., Federman, ...

4Jan

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Announcement, Research

Non-MDers needed for ICMDR Study

An appeal from the International Consortium for Maladaptive Daydreaming Research. We need your help in recruiting comparison non-MD participants! The Consciousness and Psychopathology lab currently studies reciprocal relations between self-concept, memories, and daydreaming. The maladaptive daydreaming (MD) community has always been very forthcoming. We were less successful in recruiting a non-MD control group which is necessary to understand MD's effect better. Fortunately, we were recently able to secure some funding for this purpose. To compensate respondents for their time, we will send them Amazon voucher gift cards worth $25! Still, it is difficult for us to reach interested non-MD respondents. We appeal to all who are comfortable distributing our Call for participants and enc...

Mental Imagery and Daydreaming; Call for Participation

15Dec

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Announcement, Research

Mental Imagery and Daydreaming; Call for Participation

Call for Participation in Daydreaming Study by the University of New South Wales, Sydney Hi there, We are conducting an experiment looking at mental imagery and its relationship with daydreaming. This study is conducted online, and if you wish to participate, please read the following instructions. If you are not interested, then please disregard this. In this study you will be answering questionnaires related to your mental imagery, daydreams, and daily life. The questionnaires should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. At the completion of this experiment, you will be entered into a $100 gift card draw as recompense for your participation. If you have any questions about this study, please don’t hesitate to ask us at: aphantasia@pearsonlab.org Online Questi...

Daydreaming’s Darkside: The Compulsive, Complex Fantasy Disorder That Dominates Some Peoples Lives

9Dec

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Media

Daydreaming’s Darkside: The Compulsive, Complex Fantasy Disorder That Dominates Some Peoples Lives

The Conversation Covers Maladaptive Daydreaming The Conversation, originally an Australian independent news organization, now has editions all over the world. They publish "trustworthy and informative articles written by academic experts for the general public." This month they turned their attention to MD: There seems to be a strong relationship between OCD and maladaptive daydreaming. One study found that over half of participants with maladaptive daydreaming also exhibited signs of OCD. This may suggest possible shared mechanisms between the two disorders, including intrusive thoughts, dissociation and a lack of cognitive control.Though maladaptive daydreaming has been garnering an increasing amount of attention online and through social media, it’s not yet formally recognised ...

Discrimination, Identity Shame, and MD; A Call for Participation

3Dec

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Announcement, Research

Discrimination, Identity Shame, and MD; A Call for Participation

New MD Study Looks for Subjects Hi, I am Faisal Lalani, working with Professors Eli Somer and Hisham Abu-Rayya from the University of Haifa, Israel. I will be conducting interviews as part of a research study aimed at increasing our understanding of the experience of discrimination, identity shame, and maladaptive daydreaming among minority or disabled individuals. Suppose you have experienced shame due to a disability or your racial or ethnic identity and believe you have maladaptive daydreaming. In that case, you are invited to join this study because you are in an ideal position to give us valuable first-hand information on these experiences. Should you agree to participate, please fill out this brief questionnaire, which contains an informed consent form to sign, the 16-item mal...

Maladaptive Daydreaming and Its Relationship with Psychopathological Symptoms, Emotion Regulation, and Problematic Social Networking Sites Use: a Network Analysis Approach

4Nov

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Informative, Research

Maladaptive Daydreaming and Its Relationship with Psychopathological Symptoms, Emotion Regulation, and Problematic Social Networking Sites Use: a Network Analysis Approach

New paper published! From the abstract: ... Results showed that, compared to non-MDers, MDers showed significantly higher scores in all the study variables, except for cognitive reappraisal. Moreover, in the MDers network, the following patterns were identified: (i) no connections between the cluster of psychopathological symptoms, and neither cognitive reappraisal nor expressive suppression; (ii) a connection, through obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms, between the cluster of psychopathological symptoms and MD-interference with life; and (iii) a connection between PSNSU and MD-interference with life. Accordingly, the Network Comparison Test evidenced that the network structures of MDers vs. non-MDers were significantly different (M=.24; p=.01). Overall, higher scores on psychopath...

TikTok Is Fascinated By Maladaptive Daydreaming. So What Is It?

4Nov

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Media

TikTok Is Fascinated By Maladaptive Daydreaming. So What Is It?

Popsugar features Maladaptive Daydreaming. Assistant editor for Popsugar; Fitness, Maggie Ryan wrote an article covering the basics of Maladaptive Daydreaming. The article was originally titled If You Can Fantasize For Hours, There’s a Name For That: Maladaptive Daydreaming back in December of 2021, but it recently seems to have undergone a small facelift featuring a new title and an update or two. The new title invokes the name of Tiktok but is mostly a basic "what is MD" piece. Recycled though it may be we love to see MD is still on their minds and hitting a new audience. If you missed it the first time around you can read the full article HERE

Shared Challenges and Cooccurrence of Maladaptive Daydreaming and Autism Spectrum Disorder

4Nov

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Informative, Research

Shared Challenges and Cooccurrence of Maladaptive Daydreaming and Autism Spectrum Disorder

More research on MD and ASD published This month maladaptive daydreaming researchers, Melina West, Eli Somer and Inge-Marie Eigsti, published their second recent paper on the relationship between MD and ASD traits. The paper was published in Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, a journal which publishes "research on intellectual and developmental disabilities, and cognitive impairments resulting from acquired traumatic or nontraumatic brain injury." This is, currently the third paper to examine MD and ASD. For a full list of MD studies check out the publications tab of the ICMDR.From the abstract: A path analysis revealed that broad ASD traits were associated with MD symptoms via the mediating effects of loneliness and emotion regulation difficulties. Moreover, 43% of adults ...

Dream Prisoners. A life with Maladaptive Daydreaming

4Nov

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Arts, Media

Dream Prisoners. A life with Maladaptive Daydreaming

A short documentary film by Elena Rubtsova The purpose of this documentary movie is to spread information about maladaptive daydreaming phenomena, which might help people suffering from it and their surroundings. The film shows phenomenon of maladaptive daydreaming, underlines the reasons for its occurrence and manifestations, describes the dangers associated with it, and also provides suggestions on how to manage the mental state. This movie is based on people's real stories suffering from maladaptive daydreaming and the scientific opinions of two clinical psychologists, incl. Eli Somer , Ph.D. (Somer first described this phenomenon in 2002). Д/ф «Узники мечты. Жизнь с навязчивыми грёзами»/Dream prisoners. A Life with maladaptive daydreaming - YouTube To watch the film click HERE...