Is daydreaming a kind of mental disorder?
People who immerse themselves for hours in very detailed and realistic daydreams are today considered to be suffering from ADHD.
One Israeli researcher wants to change that - to make their lives easier
Walla!
health
25/05/2022
Wednesday, 25 May 2022, 11:00 Updated: 11:49
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Daydreaming is seen as a relaxing, almost magical time, which invites good ideas and pleasant fantasies.
But there are quite a few people who immerse themselves in these dreams for long hours, which can affect their functioning and the social relationships they have.
These people today are perceived as having ADHD, but the truth is that their condition is different - and more complex.
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To the full article
Maladaptive daydreaming is a condition in which people surf into very detailed and realistic daydreams that can last for hours, at the cost of normal functioning, making connections in the real world, being able to pay attention to tasks and fulfilling life goals.
Dr. Nirit Sofer-Dodek from the Laboratory of Consciousness and Psychopathology at the Department of Psychology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and one of the world's leading experts on the subject, believes that in quite a few cases, the definition of "abnormal daydreaming" may be a better diagnosis than
ADHD.
An official psychiatrist, however, Dr. Super-Dodek promotes awareness of the definition of "abnormal daydreaming" in order to include it in the next edition of the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 6) as a diagnosis that needs to be further investigated.
The findings of the study from her laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Haifa, were recently published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Some people are addicted to dreams in their imaginary daydreams.
Girl daydreaming (Photo: ShutterStock)
"Some people who indulge in their imaginary daydreams have great difficulty concentrating and focusing their attention on academic and occupational tasks," said Dr. Super-Dodek. For them necessarily. "An official classification of 'abnormal daydreaming' as a mental disorder will allow clinicians to better assist many of their patients," she explained.
Depression, loneliness and low self-esteem
Previous studies have found high percentages of ADHD in those who identified themselves as suffering from abnormal daydreaming, thus raising the question of whether the new diagnosis really separates from ADHD.
In the current study, doctoral student Nitzan Theodor-Katz, together with Dr. Super-Dodek and their colleagues at the University of Haifa, examined 83 adults diagnosed with ADHD. In a structured diagnostic interview,
it was found that about 20 percent of the study sample met the criteria for abnormal daydreaming, which has unique clinical characteristics, while about 80 percent suffered only from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, with normative daydreaming.
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Among the subgroup that also suffered from abnormal daydreaming, significantly higher rates of depression, loneliness, and low self-esteem were observed, compared with those with ADHD who did not meet the criteria for daydreaming, even though the two groups did not differ in the severity of their attention deficit disorder.
"Our findings suggest that there is a subgroup of people diagnosed with ADHD who may benefit more from a diagnosis as 'abnormal daydreaming'. ADHD seems to be only a small part of a more general problem they have," she concluded.
health
psychology
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dream
Dreaming
ADHD