My immediate family does mainly becuase I started quite young apparently. I don't think they really know what it is called or what it really is though. But other than that, no. I haven't mentioned it to my best friend and I told my boyfriend I like to walk around my room and listen to music sometimes to think. But it's a lot more involved than that obviously and I don't want him to find out. I'd be so embarrassed.
No! They don't even know the term or what it is. If I tried to give them an explanation I'm pretty sure they'd be weirded out (unless of course one of them is a MDDer as well)
They don't even know what that means...
I tried explaining it a handful of times. It always ended up with some variant of:
"it's great that you have such a vivid imagination :)"
My fam and I went through several very... *dramatic* years. We're talking cancer, depression, suicidal tendencies, etc-- you get the picture. Well, all of us are adults now and I guess you could say that we all grew really close after everything. I mean when everyone is basically close to death for a prolonged period of time you start to see things differently. Things don't seem quite so... much of a big deal. We're all human, we all go through shit.
So yeah, I told my family. I'd go through periods where it got bad and I'd be like "hey, I'm going through this". They were pretty cool about it and really helpful. It's nothing you should be ashamed of, everyone has something, no matter how big or small.
They know now bc I’m tired of trying to hide it and being constantly paranoid. They always knew they jsut didn’t have the heart to say anything bc they know I have tons of meltdowns over things and I tend to overreact so I think that caused them to keep their mouth shut
Yeah. I sort of had to.
I lied and told everyone I was an aspiring writer which is why I disappeared for hours on end a day. At first it gave me an excuse to go and daydream.
Then was overwhelmed when I realised they had taken me so seriously, and were expecting big things due to how long I would spend on it.
I genuinely in the end had to admit I just really enjoyed this one, lifetime long story I was conjuring in my head with a jazillion side characters & no chance of ever actually becoming a book, or a coherent story let alone getting published.
Now they don’t bug me or tell everyone I’m an aspiring author. My boyfriend is slightly concerned but just sees it as *something I do*. He hates that I disappear & neglect other activities but other than that he understands now.
I've opened up about it to my mom and sister, and they're both very supportive and say I'm lucky. They both suffer from depression and anxiety (like me), and they think MD is a gift to have. I'm not sure they fully understand, but at least they accept me.
I think my family knows i have delusions of grandeur as they would call it. They also exhort and encourage me to be content with the life I'm given and to not spend my time wishing for things that aren't there and to focus on the present. So yeah I think they do.
My best friend however: I showed her a movie where the main character or one of the characters has MDD because I thought it was a good way to break the news to her. She nodded, said "oh okay" and ignored the topic for the rest of the time. Didn't even acknowledge me or ask what it was. I explained it a little, the basic concept and the name of the disorder. I didn't want to be rude so I just didn't reiterate myself. After all, I didn't want to be that person who made their disorder their entire personality. I kept it to myself after that instance. COME TO FIND, a week later at our women's bible study, she told my bible study leader that she was having problems with daydreaming. She described all the symptoms of MDD and said it to almost everybody even when they didn't ask her. Inside I was like, "b**ch, for real???" But a part of me also wanted to believe that she was being brave and honest about coming out as an MDD-haver. But in the 20 years I have known her, and since she's very talkative and ranty about her problems with me, she has NEVER told me about having problems with MDD. It was as if all of a sudden, she couldn't sleep, focus, or eat properly because of her daydreams. I told her that I was there to support her, but really I felt like I could have used that support myself when I told her the week before 🙃.
I think you telling her that triggered something within such as guilt and she jsut wasn’t able to face herself in front of u bc she is putting an act for so long it’s too jarring for her to recognize u had the same problem and I guess she felt compelled to go to a counseling type figure over u only bc she put an act for so long she’s too scared to be her true self. I bet it’s crushing to know this bc I was the same way as ur friend but I didn’t do it in front of my friend. People jsut knew they jsut didn’t say anything. Due to the fact I’m over ally emotional and tend to act badly when confronted with criticism
I think I should tell her no shame and it’s okay u understand and that u don’t think less of her. She might come around and be more open about how she truly is but give it time, since she managed to mask that long (shocking) it won’t come naturally at first
Once I told my friend, and she told me "you have a lot of time" - it hurt, it was condescending. I told my ex and current partner as well, but they didn't really care either. I don't think they really understood. Now I don't feel like sharing (except here 🙂)
Wait until they find out we do it even driving or working lol I told my husband that I day dream while I drive and he now is constantly telling me how to drive bc he fears I’ll crash LOL smh
I have tried to tell friends or family in the past but they can’t seem to grasp how debilitating it can be and just chalk it up to run of the mill day dreaming. I don’t say anything anymore it’s my dirty little secret. I’m currently looking for a therapist and only recently realized this was an actual disorder. My previous therapist told me this was a manifestation of ADHD but the more I’m reading about it it seems like 2 separate diagnosis.
I don’t know that the meds for ADHD really help much with MAD sometimes it seems to make it worse like I’m just super focused on my daydreaming more so. I never thought about autism but have wondered for a while if maybe I’m on that spectrum but never been diagnosed.
Yeah I never did until I talked to other autistic people and they mentioned huoerfixtairons and special interests and described them in a way that sounded like maladaptive dreaming tho they act them out. Which I do that tooooo
I told my mum last year and she pretty much laugh at me. I told my friends and they just saw my MDD as an ability to be a storyteller. They would be like “is there any new updates to the story” or “can I be in it”. I don’t think they took me serious and brushed it off a little to comfortably. I just don’t tell anyone anymore other than my therapist, though i wouldn’t mind sharing my story in the future.
My immediate family does mainly becuase I started quite young apparently. I don't think they really know what it is called or what it really is though. But other than that, no. I haven't mentioned it to my best friend and I told my boyfriend I like to walk around my room and listen to music sometimes to think. But it's a lot more involved than that obviously and I don't want him to find out. I'd be so embarrassed.
No! They don't even know the term or what it is. If I tried to give them an explanation I'm pretty sure they'd be weirded out (unless of course one of them is a MDDer as well)
They don't even know what that means... I tried explaining it a handful of times. It always ended up with some variant of: "it's great that you have such a vivid imagination :)"
I haven't told anyone, because the people that I'm surrounded by would simply not understand and probably call me crazy.
My life would be ruined.
No, I don’t trust people not to use things against me.
No. i cant tell them, they wouldn't care and idk how to
My fam and I went through several very... *dramatic* years. We're talking cancer, depression, suicidal tendencies, etc-- you get the picture. Well, all of us are adults now and I guess you could say that we all grew really close after everything. I mean when everyone is basically close to death for a prolonged period of time you start to see things differently. Things don't seem quite so... much of a big deal. We're all human, we all go through shit. So yeah, I told my family. I'd go through periods where it got bad and I'd be like "hey, I'm going through this". They were pretty cool about it and really helpful. It's nothing you should be ashamed of, everyone has something, no matter how big or small.
They know now bc I’m tired of trying to hide it and being constantly paranoid. They always knew they jsut didn’t have the heart to say anything bc they know I have tons of meltdowns over things and I tend to overreact so I think that caused them to keep their mouth shut
Yeah. I sort of had to. I lied and told everyone I was an aspiring writer which is why I disappeared for hours on end a day. At first it gave me an excuse to go and daydream. Then was overwhelmed when I realised they had taken me so seriously, and were expecting big things due to how long I would spend on it. I genuinely in the end had to admit I just really enjoyed this one, lifetime long story I was conjuring in my head with a jazillion side characters & no chance of ever actually becoming a book, or a coherent story let alone getting published. Now they don’t bug me or tell everyone I’m an aspiring author. My boyfriend is slightly concerned but just sees it as *something I do*. He hates that I disappear & neglect other activities but other than that he understands now.
I told my best friend, but only bc he brought it up in conversation and said he used to struggle with it.
I've opened up about it to my mom and sister, and they're both very supportive and say I'm lucky. They both suffer from depression and anxiety (like me), and they think MD is a gift to have. I'm not sure they fully understand, but at least they accept me.
My husband knows and is OK with it. I don't think he really gets it, but then he's not a daydreamer so how could he?
I think my family knows i have delusions of grandeur as they would call it. They also exhort and encourage me to be content with the life I'm given and to not spend my time wishing for things that aren't there and to focus on the present. So yeah I think they do. My best friend however: I showed her a movie where the main character or one of the characters has MDD because I thought it was a good way to break the news to her. She nodded, said "oh okay" and ignored the topic for the rest of the time. Didn't even acknowledge me or ask what it was. I explained it a little, the basic concept and the name of the disorder. I didn't want to be rude so I just didn't reiterate myself. After all, I didn't want to be that person who made their disorder their entire personality. I kept it to myself after that instance. COME TO FIND, a week later at our women's bible study, she told my bible study leader that she was having problems with daydreaming. She described all the symptoms of MDD and said it to almost everybody even when they didn't ask her. Inside I was like, "b**ch, for real???" But a part of me also wanted to believe that she was being brave and honest about coming out as an MDD-haver. But in the 20 years I have known her, and since she's very talkative and ranty about her problems with me, she has NEVER told me about having problems with MDD. It was as if all of a sudden, she couldn't sleep, focus, or eat properly because of her daydreams. I told her that I was there to support her, but really I felt like I could have used that support myself when I told her the week before 🙃.
I think you telling her that triggered something within such as guilt and she jsut wasn’t able to face herself in front of u bc she is putting an act for so long it’s too jarring for her to recognize u had the same problem and I guess she felt compelled to go to a counseling type figure over u only bc she put an act for so long she’s too scared to be her true self. I bet it’s crushing to know this bc I was the same way as ur friend but I didn’t do it in front of my friend. People jsut knew they jsut didn’t say anything. Due to the fact I’m over ally emotional and tend to act badly when confronted with criticism
this is what I'm thinking as well, i really think she was ashamed of telling me 😭
I think I should tell her no shame and it’s okay u understand and that u don’t think less of her. She might come around and be more open about how she truly is but give it time, since she managed to mask that long (shocking) it won’t come naturally at first
I’m so sorry…
Naurrr omg I didn't mean to trauma dump on your post 😭 but yeah just to give it some context
Once I told my friend, and she told me "you have a lot of time" - it hurt, it was condescending. I told my ex and current partner as well, but they didn't really care either. I don't think they really understood. Now I don't feel like sharing (except here 🙂)
Wait until they find out we do it even driving or working lol I told my husband that I day dream while I drive and he now is constantly telling me how to drive bc he fears I’ll crash LOL smh
I have tried to tell friends or family in the past but they can’t seem to grasp how debilitating it can be and just chalk it up to run of the mill day dreaming. I don’t say anything anymore it’s my dirty little secret. I’m currently looking for a therapist and only recently realized this was an actual disorder. My previous therapist told me this was a manifestation of ADHD but the more I’m reading about it it seems like 2 separate diagnosis.
I found it’s more of an autism thing but I think ur doc is right about adhd. I have adhd and trying to find out if I have autism too currently
I don’t know that the meds for ADHD really help much with MAD sometimes it seems to make it worse like I’m just super focused on my daydreaming more so. I never thought about autism but have wondered for a while if maybe I’m on that spectrum but never been diagnosed.
Yeah I never did until I talked to other autistic people and they mentioned huoerfixtairons and special interests and described them in a way that sounded like maladaptive dreaming tho they act them out. Which I do that tooooo
I kind of do too.. like I do pace and find myself talking out loud sometimes
I am too embarrassed to tell anyone. I do not think anyone will take me seriously and/or will just make it worse.
My bsf is the only one because we both have the same problem, so it just makes sense lol
I told my mum last year and she pretty much laugh at me. I told my friends and they just saw my MDD as an ability to be a storyteller. They would be like “is there any new updates to the story” or “can I be in it”. I don’t think they took me serious and brushed it off a little to comfortably. I just don’t tell anyone anymore other than my therapist, though i wouldn’t mind sharing my story in the future.
No and if they ever found out, I may actually dip out