 daydreaming. It's something that a lot of us do when 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 going to be talking about in this video. What is up 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 bell because I make a ton of videos so this is very interesting I love learning about mental health like 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 it's not in 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 as 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 to 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 be PTSD they can depersonalize or they can derealize when they get triggered right they can separate from their bodies it feels like nothing's real or feels like they're they're 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 struggle 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 like this is something a lot of young people struggle with is just being stuck in a bad household right maybe you have 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 like this is where I kind of look at it as a benefit like maybe it helps you like visualize your goals and what you want to do like my recommendation for that is like write this stuff down and then like 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 this saying there's no treatment for it which is not really true um 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 like oh hey I have this issue maybe I'll talk to a therapist about it is they 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 going to bring it back down same thing if anybody's struggling with depersonalization or derealization or anything like that so there are treatments that can work with it 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 struggles 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 all right 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 dialectical 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 a 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 help like 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 in the other comments down below if you ever struggled with this or you currently struggle with this like when I heard about this I'm like 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 videos to help you out with your mental and emotional well-being make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on patreon you are all amazing and if you want to check out the rewired soul merch shop we got some awesome shirts and coffee bugs in there and click or tap right over there all right thanks so much for watching I'll see you next time