r/MaladaptiveDreaming

Thinking your MD is getting better, then your MD celebrity boyfriend goes public with his new girlfriend. If you know, you know. This is hard.

consider this an accountability post but i'm sick of myself. every time i burn out, i hit a brick wall, something horrible happens, my maladaptive daydreaming intensifies. i spend hours every day doing it to feel better, but all i'm doing is numbing my emotions. Matter of fact it's gotten so bad my memory has gotten horrible these days. it's related to numbing.

i tell myself this isn't my fault, that there are also other parties responsible which hurt me to get me to reach this point, but what good does that give me? I can drown in my sorrows until I'm 80 and still haven't achieved the life that i wanted all along. quitting is hard, but the life i'm going to live if i dont stop will be a lot harder.

therefore i'm quitting this time and for good. i set a plan, if i pass a month from now, i'll share it.

I’m wondering if anyone has had the same experience

I often pace around my room in a circular pattern or back and forth, and I could do it for hours at a time

But recently I’ve noticed I’ve had a lot of knee/lower leg pain, and odds are it’s due to how I’m constantly stressing out my joint :( I’m trying to break this habit before it does any permanent damage when I’m older. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

yall i quit not even 3 hours ago and i got the urge like five times. strong ones. it feels like im a drug addict and u took away my drugs. idk how much longer i can stay like this

I honestly don’t know what’s happening to me anymore.

I’m 20, and I’ve been struggling with my attention and concentration so much lately. My mind feels like it never shuts up. I can barely sit down to watch a 10–20 minute lecture and somehow spend two hours trying to get through it because I keep zoning out without even realizing it.

I’ll watch for a few minutes, then suddenly realize I’m thinking about something completely unrelated. Sometimes I end up scrolling through my phone without even consciously deciding to pick it up. I’ve tried putting my phone in another room, but even then, I just end up getting lost in my thoughts.

And the weird thing is that it’s not really a problem with doing everything.

I can write. I can do assignments. I can sometimes work pretty well if I listen to music. But when it comes to listening to lectures or studying, my brain just refuses to stay there.

I also daydream a LOT outside of studying. Music is a huge trigger for me. I’ll put on headphones and completely disappear into imaginary scenarios. I create entire situations and conversations in my head, and sometimes I even react with facial expressions or quietly respond as if someone were actually there. I can spend a ridiculous amount of time doing this without realizing how much time has passed.

What bothers me the most is that I wasn’t always like this.

Back in high school, I could study for 4–6 hours for my university entrance exam. I could read novels for hours, watch an entire movie without touching my phone, and draw for hours without feeling the need to constantly switch to something else.

Now I’m in my third year of university and I can barely finish anything I start.

I have midterms next week and I haven’t properly finished studying for any of my courses. There are also so many things I want/need to learn outside university that would help me after graduation, but I keep putting everything off and barely make any progress.

Even my reaction to my grades has changed.

I used to get really anxious before exams and feel terrible if I wasn’t prepared. Now… I honestly don’t feel that much anxiety. I mostly just want to pass. I don’t really care about getting a high grade anymore. If I get a bad grade, I’ll feel some regret afterward because I know I could’ve studied, but that’s basically it.

The only thing that still makes me anxious is my mom’s reaction to my grades. I’ve actually lied to her about my grades multiple times and told her I got a higher score than I really did.

I don’t know if all of this is related to maladaptive daydreaming, ADHD, burnout, depression, or something else. I’m not trying to self-diagnose, but I genuinely don’t understand why I’ve changed this much.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Especially going from being able to focus for hours to barely being able to get through a 10-minute lecture?

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have experienced something like this.

I’ve been maladaptive daydreaming for years and I’ve only realized recently just how much it messes with how I watch shows and movies. I either get attached to an idea and stick with it, I never finish or follow through, I become too caught up in my own intense feelings like anger or sadness (it fuels the daydreaming part for me), and I overthink too much on certain parts that I could get too hung up on it for a good portion.

I usually stick to YouTube stuff or anything not involving plots, or if I do watch a tv show or movie, it can’t be anything to trigger it. I want to learn how to get back into loving tv shows and movies because I realize how much I don’t.