I would like to help contribute to psychological research.

I do not go to college, I'm not a student. Definitely not a doctor. I recently found out that I am a Maladaptive Daydreamer, and have been tracking the growth of research on the topic the past several years from the time I was 15 to my age of 23 now. What I want to see is a change in the mental health system, to keep growing and to also look into potential new treatments. Is there any way I can help input my knowledge and better understand Maladaptive Daydreaming, as well as its' links to other psychiatric disorders?

my suggestion is contact mental health agencies in your area. they will know of any official studies being done in your area that need volunteer test subjects.

you can also contact colleges psychology department to see if there are any graduate students doing research studies in this area that may need test subjects.

keep in mind that most research studies on mental and physical health issues is time consumming and will require you to do more than just daydream.

for example they may want to to see a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, a psychologist. they may want you to go through some assessments / tests to verify what your mental and physical health issues are, they may also need you to sign release of information forms so that they can have access to your medical and mental health records to verify / quantify their findings vs what you have officially been diagnosed with and what medications you are on, and so on.

also keep in mind that many research studies do not pay their test subjects and some times do not pay the medical bills incurred during the research studies because they dont want law suits (people claiming the research results are tainted by paying subjects to be one way or another. )

Is Maladaptive Dreamer a dx?

Why is daydreaming considered maladaptive. It can be a positive thing

daydreaming becomes maladaptive when it interferes with someones life for example that 18 wheeler who is driving a "long haul" they begin to day dream while on the highway and bam they crash into another vehicle or swerve off the road over a cliff.. or maybe someone is babysitting very young children and they begin to daydream and get so pulled into their day dream they do not realize those children in their care have figured out how to open the front door and end up down the street either in an accident or lost or in the arms of a stranger...

extreme examples yes but thats what maladaptive daydreaming is, it puts the dreamer and those around them in danger, a harm to their self or others. thats why its called maladaptive.

I honestly don't want to do if for the money. This is my way of trying to help others. In general I struggle with socializing, connecting to other people, even being selfless. Not that I'm a selfish person, it's hard connecting to others and often I fear getting close to people. This should be my way of giving back to the community.

As to what I know, Maladaptive Daydreaming is linked to ADHD and OCD according to studies. However, I have noticed from hearing other online comments and stories from people, that it seems to be correlated with trauma and abuse. My theory is that it has to do with dissociation as well.

no maladaptive daydreaming is not part of dissociative disorders anymore and has not been since 2013.

in short dissociative disorders include a criteria that reality remains intact where as maladaptive daydreaming condition is considered a psychotic problem where a persons sense of reality does not stay intact. statistically in my location it is seen more in psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

testing wise a person has to score high on the psychotic range (hallucinations, delusions, losing touch with whats real and what isnt, like they cant tell the difference between their dream worlds and the real worlds situations.)

if you would like to know more about this condition many colleges have psych courses that include this condition as one of the lighter mental problems many have a problem with, you can also find accurate information through library reference departments in psychology section. your treatment provider can also tell you more in detail what maladaptive daydreaming condition is.

unfortunately you wont find in any diagnostic manuals as its in te study the condition phase where people are doing studies to get more information about it.

if you have this problem you may consider asknig your treatment providers if they know of any studies being done on this in your area. I found this to be very helpful to me..

I participated in one study and it was found to be part of my insomnia not my dissociative problems nor my PTSD or OCD. in other words due to lack of getting enough sleep my brain kept slipping into the daydreaming brain waves at the wrong times causing problems with my life. medication for my insomnia stopped the maladaptive daydreaming.