title: Maladaptive daydreaming: Evidence for an under-researched mental health disorder.
abstract: This study explores the recently described phenomenon of Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD) and attempts to enhance the understanding of its features. It documents the experiences of 340 self-identified maladaptive daydreamers who spend excessive amounts of time engaged in mental fantasy worlds, in comparison to 107 controls. Our sample included a total of 447 individuals, aged 13-78, from 45 countries who responded to online announcements. Participants answered quantitative and qualitative questions about their daydreaming habits and completed seven questionnaires assessing mental health symptoms. Findings demonstrated that MD differs significantly from normative daydreaming in terms of quantity, content, experience, controllability, distress, and interference with life functioning. Results also demonstrated that Maladaptive Daydreamers endorsed significantly higher rates of attention deficit, obsessive compulsive and dissociation symptoms than controls. In sum, findings suggested that MD represents an under-acknowledged clinical phenomenon that causes distress, hinders life functioning and requires more scientific and clinical attention.
authors.affiliation: New York, USA. Electronic address: jaynebigelsen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jayne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bigelsen
authors.affiliation: Fordham University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lehrfeld
authors.affiliation: University of Lausanne, and National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES "Overcoming Vulnerability: Live Course Perspectives", Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniela S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Jopp
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Somer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Absorption; Compulsive fantasy; Fantasy prone person; Kinesthetic activity; Maladaptive daydreaming; Stereotypic movement; Visual cognition