Maladaptive daydreaming

Maladaptive daydreaming is prolonged, vivid, difficult-to-control fantasizing that causes distress or interferes with daily functioning. It is not an official psychiatric diagnosis.

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Immersive daydreaming: Absorbing, elaborate fantasy that can involve vivid scenes, characters, and ongoing narratives. Maladaptive daydreaming is an impairing pattern of this broader kind of fantasy.
Daydreaming: Spontaneous or intentional thought that turns attention toward imagined scenes and possibilities. Maladaptive daydreaming is distinguished from everyday daydreaming by distress or functional interference.
Eli Somer: An Israeli clinical psychologist whose research introduced the term maladaptive daydreaming. Somer named the phenomenon in a 2002 paper based on clinical observations.
Psychotherapy: A treatment approach that uses psychological methods to address distress, behavior, and mental health difficulties. Psychotherapy may address distressing patterns, though no treatment is established specifically for maladaptive daydreaming.
Psychometrics: The science of measuring psychological traits and mental states with tests and models. Researchers continue to evaluate how reliably screening tools identify the proposed phenomenon.
Absorption (psychology): A personality trait involving deep attentional engagement with vivid mental or sensory experiences. Strong absorption can make imagined worlds unusually compelling.
Mental imagery: Perception-like experience generated in the mind without the corresponding external stimulus. Vivid imagery helps make imagined scenes feel detailed and absorbing.
Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale: A self-report questionnaire designed to measure features associated with maladaptive daydreaming. Somer and colleagues developed this instrument to support systematic study.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: A structured psychotherapy that examines links among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Its techniques may help manage triggers and routines, but evidence specific to this condition remains limited.
Epidemiology: The study of how often health conditions occur and how they are distributed across populations. Population estimates remain uncertain and depend on sampling and measurement methods.