Author: Dimmer

The new study on MD and personality traits has piqued the media's attention. Psychology Today picked up Mark Travers' article overviewing a recent study that was published in the journal Personalities and Individual Differences. Below is an excerpt from the piece: According to previous studies, approximately 4 to 6 percent of people spend large chunks of their waking time in fantasy. These fantasies become maladaptive when they produce shame, loneliness, emotional pain, and interfere with one’s ability to engage in normal life activities. Studies suggest that maladaptive daydreaming first appears in youth and is more likely to affect individuals exposed to childhood trauma.In this study, the researchers were interested in identifying the common themes that appeared in the fantasies ...

De Volkskrant ran a story on The Daydreamers film. Daily morning paper recently published a piece on The Daydreamers film, by Thomas Renckens. The film has been making the rounds in festivals and aired on Dutch television. Here's an excerpt from the story, titled "Dagdromen om niet te hoeven leven" (Daydreaming to not have to Live) in de Volkskrant (translated to English): Where is the border? When does a mental pick-me-up daydream become a disorder, like Jessica's from the documentary? What about Agatha, who replays in her head for hours every day a scene she imagined around a boy she once had a crush on? "They are no longer in control," says trauma psychologist Eli Somer, who spoke to both women at length before the film. " Maladaptive daydreamers have a serious defect, which ...

Awareness Continues to Spread as Larger Publications pick up the topic of Maladaptive Daydreaming Yes, Forbes, the business magazine, covered MD recently. Here's an excerpt from the article titled "Vivid Daydreams Provide A Window Into One’s Personality, Suggests A New Study"; The researchers view this as evidence that maladaptive daydreams offer an outlet for individuals to “realize” unmet emotional and psychological needs in a fictitious environment. They state, “Sufferers from the disorder can spend more than 60% of their waking time in an imaginary world they have created, realizing that it is a fantasy, and without losing complete contact with the real world. One man related how for 30 years now he has been repeatedly imagining the plots of a series that is constantly evolvin...