daydreaming it's something that a lot of us do we get bored maybe you're sitting
in a boring meeting at work or maybe you're in a boring class at school and
your mind starts to wander a little bit but there's actually a form of mental
illness associated with daydreaming and it's called maladaptive daydreaming and
that's exactly what we're gonna be talking about in this video
what is everybody this is Chris from the rewired soul where we talk about the
problem but focus on the solution and if you're new to my channel my channel is
all about mental health I am always trying to make videos to help you
improve your mental and emotional well-being and sometimes I just like to
increase awareness and educate people about different mental illnesses out
there so maybe you can get the help that you need or maybe you can help somebody
that you know so if you're into that kind of stuff make sure you subscribe
ring that little notification about because I make a ton of videos so this
is very interesting I love learning about mental health in all ways I like
learning about new disorders that I didn't know about I like learning about
different treatment methods and stuff and my girlfriend actually told me about
this one which is called maladaptive daydreaming and one of the reasons that
I've never heard of it is because this little guy all right for those of you
who don't know this is the diagnostic Statistical Manual all right this is
what doctors psychiatrists therapists and things like that they use it's kind
of like this framework to diagnose different mental illnesses so if you fit
certain criteria they'll look to this book and say okay do they fit in here so
this is actually something that is not inside the DSM so let's talk about it a
little bit what is maladaptive daydreaming or like excessive
fantasizing so this is daydreaming too to pretty much cope with life to cope
with stress for some people this can go to extremes which I'll touch on pretty
soon but let's talk about what causes maladaptive daydreaming so it's
important to kind of look at this in kind of the same realm as
depersonalization and derealization so most of the people who have
maladaptive daydreaming like I don't want to say struggle with it because for
some people it's a useful tool you know what I mean but for most people who have
maladaptive daydreaming they were the victim of some sort of
trauma okay so we're talking about childhood trauma whether it was verbal
physical emotional sexual abuse those types of things right it could have been
a trauma later in life usually people who struggle with this it's it's usually
when they have extreme amounts of stress so this can be common like when people
experience different triggers kind of like PTSD so look at this in the realm
of PTSD as well as depersonalization and derealization so basically people would
beat PTSD they can D personalize or they can do realize when they get triggered
right they can separate from their bodies it feels like nothing's real or
feels like they're there like a robot and they don't really have any kind of
like attachments or emotions and am I even myself okay so this is something
that people with PTSD strong with but maladaptive daydreaming is something
else so what is it basically it's it's daydreaming to an extreme so this can
last for hours and hours and hours on end and for some people this is a useful
tool right it helps them cope with their stress it helps them deal with different
triggers in their lives and things like that so this can be a useful tool in
certain situations like say for example you're a young person something a lot of
young people struggle with is just being stuck in a maybe alcoholic or drug
addict parents maybe somebody in the house is abusive or things like that or
maybe you're an adult and you're stuck in a not-so-great living situation that
has a lot of stress like sometimes with this daydreaming it's creating an entire
narrative right this entire story and fantasizing about where else you would
rather be or what you would like to become and things like that way this is
where maybe it helps you like visualize your goals and what you want to do like
my recommendation for that it's like write this stuff down
maybe take small steps to achieve that goal because people are creating this
scenario like anywhere else they would rather be now let's talk about the the
struggle right of maladaptive daydreaming so like when I was reading
up on this like there were some articles where people would do this for like five
six seven eight hours a day right now this is where mental illness you know is
is an issue because if you if you could imagine if a third of your day
wait is that a third no it's a fourth of your day is spent in this like
daydreaming state like you're gonna have issues at work or at school or taking
care of your family or taking care of yourself like you are losing these large
chunks of time so that can be a problem right so they one of the videos I was
watching on there saying there's no treatment for it which is not really
true what I would assume if you went to a therapist right and you talked about
how you are struggling with this like maybe you're watching this video is it
would try to get you to do a lot of different grounding techniques right
or like dialectical behavioral therapy to bring you back to the now to bring
you back to the moment so for example like a lot of dialectical behavioral
therapy is based around mindfulness and mindfulness is constantly coming back to
the moment so over time as you strengthen this skill and ability you
start to notice when your mind starts to wander and you're like oh this
maladaptive daydreaming is happening I'm gonna bring it back down same thing if
anybody struggling with depersonalization or D realization or
anything like that so there are treatments that can work with this so I
don't believe if anybody says oh well since it's not in the DSM there's no
treatment for it that's baloney you would use similar techniques that you
would use with somebody who struggled with PTSD it might even be helpful to
find a therapist who specializes in something called EMDR therapy
EMDR therapy is extremely beneficial to for people who struggle with PTSD
alright so I was really happy to make this video thank you to my lovely
girlfriend for introducing me to this topic and if you can relate to some of
these symptoms or if you think somebody can relate to it you know I will provide
some resources down below like just read a book about dialogue
behavioral therapy or there's a link to better help online therapy if you didn't
know that is an affiliate link so when you use that link and use better help
online therapy it also helps support the channel it's
an amazing amazing app or website however you choose to use it basically
you fill out a questionnaire it matches you up with the perfect therapist in
your state and like you don't even have to leave your house and it's very easy
like me I know like I'm way more comfortable talking to people through
messages or things like that so this might be a great option for you and even
if you don't use better helpline and you have insurance or something like go find
your own therapist but better help does have a sliding scale so if you make less
money then your cost will actually be cheaper so if you want to check out
better help make sure you check down in the description as well as in the
comment section I'll post it in there I'll also post a great book about
dialectical behavioral therapy down there if you want to check that out all
right believe any other comments down below if you ever struggled with this or
you currently struggle with this like I heard about this might do more people
struggle with this like I don't even know so let me know down in the comments
below all right but that's all I got for you for this video so if you like this
video please give it a thumbs up and again if you are new I'm always making
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watching I'll see you next time