Maladaptive Daydreaming vs. ADHD: Important Similarities & Differences (with Nirit Soffer-Dudek)

In this hour-long ADDitude webinar from 7/20/22, Nirit Soffer-Dudek, Ph.D., discusses the characteristics and causes of maladaptive daydreaming and its relationship to inattentive ADHD, plus how clinicians might diagnose and treat this compulsive daydreaming disorder.
Download the slides associated with this webinar here:
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4:50 Maladaptive Dreaming vs ADHD
5:32 Normal Daydreaming / Mind-Wandering
14:37 Different Types of Potentially-Distracting, Internally-Generated Thought
20:31: Definition of Maladaptive Daydreaming
27:18: How people enter and stay in this state of consciousness
30:31: Relationship to trauma/abuse/PTSD
36:13: What causes Maladaptive Daydreaming?
37:14 Relationship between Maladaptive Daydreaming and ADHD
48:00 Children and Childhood Maladaptive Daydreaming
52:15 Connection to video game addiction
53:52 Autism and Maladaptive Daydreaming
Related Resources
1. Download: In-Depth Guide to Inattentive ADHD
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2. Read: Maladaptive Daydreaming vs. Inattentive ADHD: Comparing Symptoms, Treatments
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3. Read: Maladaptive Daydreaming Should Be a Diagnosis Distinct from ADHD
www.additudema...
4. eBook: Inattentive ADHD in Adults: An Essential Guide to the Underdiagnosed, Undertreated Subtype
www.additudema...
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[@devinboss3307]

I’m going to have to disagree. I got diagnosed with adhd when I was about 10. I think adhd causes maladaptive daydreaming. When I’m out and about, I don’t daydream. When I’m alone, I’ll daydream. I used to think I had an obsessive personality, when it came to my hobbies, but it’s actually just hyperfocus. I only started maladaptive daydreaming when I was about 19, and I got an iPad. I still had adhd before that. Just my opinion and experience. Plus maladaptive daydreaming IS an inability to regulate attention. You still can’t hold a thought steady, unless you’re interested in the topic. I have no problem hold 110 percent focus if I’m interested. Watch healthy gamer daydreaming video. That’s his take on it, and I agree with him.

[@avihere1979]

I have ADHD and dissociative disorder. What you are describing is ADHD. And for me that comes with mindwandering/ daydreaming also. However, what they call maladaptive daydreaming here is not ADHD, it is escaping from your reality and experience a different place in your head, not being present at all, not aware of what you see with eyes open, because your experiencing a different world in your head; this is a mild form of dissociation. So do not worry, your judt ADHD fine.😁

[@denarhiadra5266]

I had no idea anyone else in the world did this. I have done this since I was a child until I got in my 30s. I had the most amazing worlds and incredible adventures in my mind. It was all I wanted to do. I could not wait to get off work so I could go home, hole up in my music room, and engage my fantasy world. I stopped doing it when I got the message from Joseph Campbell to follow my bliss. Once I started really pursuing the life I wanted for real, I stopped this daydreaming.

[@memethingz6004]

I wish it was this easy

[@Hknewyorker]

How and which books inspired you

[@denarhiadra5266]

The Power of Myth. And a series of interviews done with him by Bill Moyers on the George Lucas ranch, which all six are available on KZbin. George Lucas was inspired by Campbell and used his writings as a reference in the creation of Star Wars. Joseph Campbell said we should follow our bliss and if we do, doors will open for us that we never knew were there. And he said so much more, but that became the foundation for my living: Follow your bliss, holding nothing back. Do it and see what happens. It oddly works! @@Hknewyorker

[@bonnacon1610]

It's long been obvious to me that my MD is about bringing about what I believe Somer identifies as "continuous redress" from reality - it's all about compensating for unmet needs in my case. I can practically feel my brain 'warming up' as I daydream. There's a relief in returning to it, which also points (for me) to a profoundly-felt attachment need: it's a reliable, good attachment object for me, taking the place of a partner or family because of course I have much more control over the positive outcome of a daydream than I do when trying to ensure a positive outcome from an interaction with a real, volatile, unpredictable human being! I may also have ADHD (possibly aggravated by peri menopause) as I notice that I tend to turn to MD when body doubles aren't available (lockdown considerably aggravated it) or when I have a task before me that's unavoidable but that severely taxes my executive functioning abilities. In such cases, MD "warms up" my brain, providing it with a kinder and more gradual pathway to The Horrible Task.

[@SpiderS2099]

This makes perfect sense. I was always confused by my symptoms that included Adhd, depression and depersonalization. But daydreaming seemed like secondary thing yet now it makes a lot of sense and connects the dots.

[@smashy_smasherton]

I’ve engaged in MD all my life, until recently when I was aware it was a thing. I still do, but I’m better at recognizing it and changing track.

[@HayatBuu]

I can't thank you enough. You saved my life and our future... As a future scientist and maybe a businessman entrepreneur, I would like to thank you very, very much...🎈🔥🏳‍⚧🏳‍🌈🥰😘😭😭

[@WizardKitty723]

One of my children is like this. BUT I think she has both ADD and MD. The MD is when she is in hyper focus mode because these daydreams are very rewarding.

[@halliefaust6786]

Personally I think the world is not very friendly. For those of us who can create beautiful worlds in our head is a way of escapism from suffering. Its always in your control what you see/hear in your head. I see fantasy worlds in books and movies as far superior to my current existence. I don't want to return. But when I do, I learn how much I want out of life. I get inspired by my daydreams to pursue things. With adhd it makes things like a corporate job if copy paste seem very VERY boring and impossible to do when I could be collecting flowers in the woods, climbing trees, making mead, finding snakes and lizards. I don't think what youre talking about is a common disorder at all. What you're talking about is a symptom of whats not serving some people in current society. We need these things to be normal: adult play (DnD, playing tag and other physical forms of play, playing sports for fun not competition), working in and enjoying outdoors, not having to work more than 30 hours a week to afford to live, learn skills like weaving, carpentry, music theory, an instrument, the art of hosting, gardening, history, science... clearly I could go on. People with this problem have other issues that prevent them from enacting change in pursuing their fantasies; fear, change, acceptance, circumstances, shame. And so often will simply revert back to their daydreaming to COPE

[@pensiveidea]

Is this what Russell Barkley refers to as cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS), (previously known as SCT)?

[@johnrainsman6650]

I have OCD, ASD, and _seemingly_ Maladaptive Daydreaming. I don't trust myself to know whether I do or not, especially because my OCD tricks me. So to ask directly, what is the difference between MD and a minor "normal" case of being in your own little world (emphasis on little). Let's put it this way: I do not let my imagination and daydreams interfere with my actions, tasks, and interactions with people. Nobody would be able to tell. One of the main reasons for my supposed MD is my thirst to be something special to my half-sister's family. I've always been jealous of her, and I don't have a paternal side, or a dad. That's when the potential MD "games" started. My role is the hero/protagonist in my fictional story, that comes from their point of view (it's a hypothetical _"if they saw me as this"_ game. It's complicated. Is there anyone who understands so far?

[@joestephani7959]

I am so glad I found this. I am turning 40 this year and was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD a year ago. I am I day dreamer and have been my whole life. I cannot wait to look into everything you are studying. This is amazing

[@LG-Musique]

What is the difference between maladaptive daydreaming and imaginative play in children?

[@LG-Musique]

What is this an hour?! 😭😅🙈 I’m not going to be able to focus on this long enough to get to the end lol

[@tiaverde19]

Any researchers in Montreal? I really would like to be a part of this study and finally understand what is wrong with me..

[@avihere1979]

Find yourself a good psychologist. Whom wants to take time to start from your childhood into your present and connect the dots.

[@BrolicHistory]

Nothing wrong w u! You aren’t like everyone else, because you’re not supposed to be. There’s no way in hell we all LOOK different, but don’t think different too

[@avihere1979]

It is under dissociation and fully covered under this, as it stems as a coping mechanism. It is not a separate diagnosis and in my view should not be. It is a place you go to in your head, your turn the key and you are in, you can control it if you really want to, especially if you can address the triggers in your envoronment. Inattentiveness from ADHD is not like a place you go to, it is there and you can not just turn it on or off. So I do think these are two very different things and experiences. I have both and I can keep them apart very clearly. I eould not want my psychologist or my psychiatric doctor to dismiss ADHD and just deal with this daydreaming, because it may be very intense, but very much treatable by the person; whereas for ADHD, it is present and you can not think your way out of it.

[@victoriaryan1509]

Plus , what about all the other ADD symptoms? I definitely have both, (combined ADHD subtype, very recently diagnosed. Thought I just had maladaptive daydreaming but have acfually got a much more difficult problem!) and obviously anyone who does wou need separate treatments. You can't just ignore one psychopathology if you think one's easier to deal with, more interesting, or not your field. I've been misdiagnosed with all sorts of things because I also have epilepsy and everyone just assumed my mental health disorders were as a result of coping with that before getting a proper diagnosis of ADHD, which coupled with a self diagnosis of MD covers all of my symptoms!

[@AjinkyaMahajan]

Can we detect if the person loses to trans by monitoring EEG or certain motor motions and generate a statistically significant dataset ? How is MD different from an induced hallucination with the non-pacified autonomous nervous system taking control?

[@pcgordon3360]

That's an interesting take! What's the difference between a totally emersive trance like daydream and a hallucination?

[@spotterofgold]

Dr. Soffer-Dudek: Would an example of a classic case of MD be that of the man being psychoanalyzed in Dr. Robert Lindner's article, "The Jet-Propelled Couch"?

[@akontarini]

Thank you!

[@samric2000]

i hv both

[@polymath521]

What's with the war of attrition of advertising?! Like...DAMN!

[@briana9918]

This is a very outside in view of the "disorder". I agree with the need for therapy. I don't agree with the view of "preferring to spend time daydreaming to spending time in their real lives and with the real people in their lives" as weakening. For some people spending time with others is weakening because others don't celebrate them nor respect them and their real lives circumstances aren't strengthening at all

[@bluemeister7]

Exactly, it has to be the right people/situations for it to be a healthy and rewarding experience. I truly wish it were simple, but it's a daily struggle for those who struggle with ADHD and other comorbid disorders.