Maladaptive daydreaming should be included as a dissociative disorder in psychiatric manuals: position paper.
Journal: The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science
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Affiliated Institutions:
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
School of Social Work (Emeritus), University of Haifa, Israel.
Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Stanford University, California, USA.
The New Washington School of Psychiatry, Washington, DC, USA.
McGill University and Teaching Hospital (Emeritus), Montreal, Canada.
School of Psychology, Speech & Hearing, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
CERCAP, Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden.
Department of Psychiatry, Washington School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
Department of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Italy.
Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, Italy.
Independent Researcher, private practice, Maarssen, The Netherlands.
Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), dep National e-health Living Lab (NeLL) and Parnassia/PsyQ Mental Health Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
The Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma, Richardson, Texas, USA.
Independent Researcher, Calvos PVL, Portugal.
Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Churchland Psychological Center, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
Nova Southeastern University (Emeritus), Florida, USA.
Research Centre for Trauma and Dissociation, Ignatianum University, Poland.
Childhood Recovery Resources, Pikesville, Maryland, USA.
Independent Scholar, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Forensic Psychology Program, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Department of Psychiatry (Emerita), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Kinesiology, California State University, California, USA.
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Geisel School of Medicine, New Hampshire, USA.
Private Practice, Longmont, Colorado, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Koç University School of Medicine, Turkey.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia.
Abstract summary
Maladaptive daydreaming is a distinct syndrome in which the main symptom is excessive vivid fantasising that causes clinically significant distress and functional impairment in academic, vocational and social domains. Unlike normal daydreaming, maladaptive daydreaming is persistent, compulsive and detrimental to one's life. It involves detachment from reality in favour of intense emotional engagement with alternative realities and often includes specific features such as psychomotor stereotypies (e.g. pacing in circles, jumping or shaking one's hands), mouthing dialogues, facial gestures or enacting fantasy events. Comorbidity is common, but existing disorders do not account for the phenomenology of the symptoms. Whereas non-specific therapy is ineffective, targeted treatment seems promising. Thus, we propose that maladaptive daydreaming be considered a formal syndrome in psychiatric taxonomies, positioned within the dissociative disorders category. Maladaptive daydreaming satisfactorily meets criteria for conceptualisation as a psychiatric syndrome, including reliable discrimination from other disorders and solid interrater agreement. It involves significant dissociative aspects, such as disconnection from perception, behaviour and sense of self, and has some commonalities with but is not subsumed under existing dissociative disorders. Formal recognition of maladaptive daydreaming as a dissociative disorder will encourage awareness of a growing problem and spur theoretical, research and clinical developments.
Authors & Co-authors:
Soffer-Dudek Nirit N
Somer Eli E
Spiegel David D
Chefetz Richard R
O'Neil John J
Dorahy Martin J MJ
Cardeña Etzel E
Mamah Daniel D
Schimmenti Adriano A
Musetti Alessandro A
Boon Suzette S
van Dijke Annemiek A
Ross Colin C
Nijenhuis Ellert E
Krause-Utz Annegret A
Dell Paul P
Gold Steven N SN
Pietkiewicz Igor I
Silberg Joyanna J
Steele Kathy K
Moskowitz Andrew A
Draijer Nel N
Thomson Paula P
Barach Peter P
Kinsler Philip P
Maves Peter P
Şar Vedat V
Krüger Christa C
Middleton Warwick W
Study Outcome
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