What is it called when you control your dreams


What They Are and How to Experience Them

Lucid dreaming happens when you’re aware that you’re dreaming.

You’re able to recognize your thoughts and emotions as the dream happens.

Sometimes, you can control the lucid dream. You may be able to change the people, environment, or storyline. This type of dream of control could potentially reduce nightmares and anxiety.

Keep reading to learn more about lucid dreaming — what it is, when it occurs, and what you can do to experience it.

When you sleep, your brain cycles through rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep.

Non-REM sleep includes three separate stages. During non-REM, your brain waves, heartbeat, and eye movements gradually slow down.

In REM sleep, your brain is extremely active. Your heart rate and eye movements also increase.

Lucid dreaming, like most dreams, usually happens during REM sleep.

In a lucid dream, you know that you’re dreaming. You’re aware of your awareness during the dream state.

About 55 percent of people have experienced one or more lucid dreams in their lifetime. However, frequent lucid dreaming is rare. Only 23 percent of people have lucid dreams at least once a month.

To explore lucid dreaming, try the following tips:

Get more REM sleep

Since lucid dreaming usually happens during REM sleep, spending more time in this stage will increase your chances of lucid dreaming.

You can extend REM sleep by getting enough sleep overall. When you have healthy sleep habits, your body can properly cycle through all four stages of sleep.

To practice good sleep hygiene:

  • Follow a sleep schedule.
  • Exercise daily.
  • Avoid electronics before bed.
  • Create a relaxing sleep environment.
  • Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed.

Even if you don’t lucid dream, these habits will help you get restorative sleep.

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Keep a dream journal

Many people use a dream journal, or dream diary, to aid lucid dreaming.

Writing down your dreams forces you to recall them. This is thought to help your brain become more aware of dreaming.

To keep a dream journal, keep a notebook and pen beside your bed. Write down your dream as soon as you wake up. Read your journal regularly to familiarize your brain with your dreams.

Practice reality testing

Your level of consciousness is similar when you’re awake and dreaming. So, by increasing your awareness during your waking state, you can enhance your awareness during your dreaming state.

Reality testing is a popular way to do this. It trains your mind to recognize your own awareness while you’re awake.

The method involves doing reality checks throughout the day. As reality testing becomes a habit, you’ll be able to induce awareness while dreaming.

Popular reality checks include:

  • Finger through palm. Push your fingers against your opposite palm. If they pass through, you are dreaming.
  • Mirrors. In a dream state, your reflection won’t look normal.
  • Nose pinch. Pinch your nose. You’ll be able to breathe if you’re in a dream.
  • Reading. Look away from text then look back again. If you’re dreaming, the text will change.
  • Tattoos. If you have tattoos, look at them. They’ll look different in a dream.

Choose one reality check and do it several times a day. You may have to experiment with different reality checks to determine which works best for you.

Try induction techniques

While lucid dreaming often happens randomly, it’s possible to initiate lucid dreaming through induction techniques.

These methods include:

  • Wake back to bed (WBTB). Wake up five hours after bedtime. When you go back to sleep, you’ll be more likely to enter REM sleep while you’re still conscious.
  • Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD). Tell yourself that you will lucid dream tonight. You can do it before bed or when you’re awake during WBTB.
  • Wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD). In WILD, you enter REM sleep from wakefulness while maintaining your consciousness. It involves lying down until you have a hypnagogic hallucination.

To increase your chances of lucid dreaming, use these techniques with reality testing and dream journaling.

Lucid dreaming has several potential benefits:

Decrease nightmares

While occasional nightmares are normal, recurring nightmares can be taxing. They can interfere with consistent quality sleep.

Frequent nightmares usually affect people with:

  • stress
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • sleep deprivation
  • sleep disorders, like narcolepsy
  • post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • medication
  • substance abuse

Lucid dreaming could provide relief by reducing recurring nightmares.

During a lucid dream, you’re able to realize that the nightmare isn’t real. It also lets you control the dream, which allows you to turn a nightmare into a more neutral or pleasant scenario.

Relieve anxiety

By decreasing nightmares, lucid dreaming may ease nightmare-related anxiety. It’s also used to relieve anxiety due to PTSD.

There’s also anecdotal evidence of lucid dreaming helping general anxiety, but more scientific research is needed.

Some people say it allows them to overcome the source of their anxiety.

Increase motor skills

Visualizing physical movements can increase the actual ability to do them. This may be done during a lucid dream, where the dreamer can mentally practice motor skills.

When you perform motor skills while dreaming, your brain’s sensorimotor cortex activates. This is the part of the brain that controls movement.

In this regard, lucid dreaming could help physical rehabilitation for people with physical disabilities.

It may also benefit people without physical disabilities by improving sports performance and other motor skills.

Enhance creativity

Lucid dreaming could potentially boost your creativity.

Typically, people who are more creative are more likely to lucid dream. This might be due to their heightened ability to recall dreams and visualize events.

But according to anecdotal reports, it also works the other way around. People claim lucid dreaming increases their creativity and imagination.

While this hasn’t been proven by science, many individuals use lucid dreaming to sharpen their creativity.

It’s possible to interpret a lucid dream, just like you would with a normal dream. Dream interpretation can help you understand the relevance of your dreams.

In fact, people say dream interpretation is easier during a lucid dream. Your awareness increases your ability to observe the dream as it happens.

Lucid dreams are also more vivid, which helps you remember the events and details.

To interpret your lucid dreams, keep a dream journal. Writing down your dreams will help you discover significant themes.

It’s also recommended to keep a regular journal. By recording your dreams and daily life, you’ll be more likely to find connections.

Lucid dreaming is generally considered safe, but there are some risks for people with mental health disorders.

These include:

  • Sleep problems. Since lucid dreaming techniques purposely interrupt sleep, getting enough sleep can be difficult. The risk is higher if you have a sleep disorder.
  • Depression and anxiety. Sleep issues can intensify depressive symptoms and anxiety.
  • Derealization. Lucid dreaming induction meshes reality and dreaming, making it difficult to determine what’s real.
  • Dissociation. The overlap of reality and dreaming can also cause disconnection from your surroundings or self.

During lucid dreaming, you’re aware of your dream as it happens. In some cases, you might be able to control the dream’s storyline.

If you’d like to explore lucid dreaming, try the tips in this article. Lucid dreams may potentially reduce nightmares, relieve anxiety, and improve motor skills and creativity.

Use caution if you have a sleep or mental disorder. Attempting to lucid dream poses several risks, including sleep interruptions and derealization. Talk to a therapist or sleep specialist before trying to lucid dream.

Lucid dreaming: How-to, benefits, and risks

Have you ever started dreaming and suddenly realized that you were in a dream? Have you ever managed to gain control over your dream narrative? If your answer to either of these is “yes,” you have experienced what is called lucid dreaming.

Movies such as Inception have popularized lucid dreaming. This movie features impressive dream artisans who are able to control the shape and content of their dreams, as well as the dreams of others.

Such feats of dream manipulation may not seem possible to the same extent in our real lives, but they are not altogether absent.

In fact, a number of people are able to experience something called lucid dreaming, and some of them are even able to control certain elements of their nightly dreams.

According to some research, around half of all people have had a lucid dream at some time in their lives, and around 11% experience one or two lucid dreams per month.

In his much-cited poem A Dream Within A Dream, Edgar Allan Poe wrote, “All that we see or seem/Is but a dream within a dream.”

Whether or not he is right is a matter for philosophers to debate, but the boundary between dreams and reality is something that lucid dreaming appears to explore.

In this Spotlight, we look at what qualifies as lucid dreaming, whether these experiences can have any practical applications, and how a person might be able to become a lucid dreamer.

Typically, when we dream, we do not know that the dream is not real. As a character from the movie Inception quite aptly puts it, “Well, dreams, they feel real while we’re in them, right? It’s only when we wake up that we realize that something was actually strange.

However, some people are able to enter a dream and be fully aware of the fact that they are actually dreaming.

“A lucid dream is defined as a dream during which dreamers, while dreaming, are aware they are dreaming,” specialists explain.

The very first record of lucid dreaming appears to feature in the treatise On Dreams by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. In it, he describes an instance of self-awareness during a dream state.

“[If] the sleeper perceives that he is asleep, and is conscious of the sleeping state during which the perception comes before his mind, it presents itself still, but something within him speaks to this effect: ‘The image of Koriskos presents itself, but the real Koriskos is not present,'” he wrote.

It is unclear how many people actually experience lucid dreaming, though certain studies have tried to gather information regarding its prevalence — and it seems that this phenomenon may be quite common.

For instance, researchers in Brazil surveyed 3,427 participants with a median age of 25. The results of the survey indicated that 77% of the respondents had experienced lucid dreaming at least once.

Like most dreams, lucid dreaming will typically occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. For some people it occurs spontaneously, but others train themselves to start dreaming lucidly (or to become better at it).

As one experienced lucid dreamer told Medical News Today:

“[M]y lucid dreaming […] occurs when I’m waking up, or sometimes if I’ve woken up briefly and I’m going back to sleep. Nowadays, I can pretty much do it on a whim, as long as I’m in that half-asleep half-awake process.”

The degree to which a person can influence their dream also varies.

Some people may simply wake up immediately upon realizing that they had been dreaming. Other people, however, may be able to influence their own actions within the dream, or parts of the dream itself.

The lucid dreamer who spoke to MNT told us that she was able to manipulate the dream narrative in order to create a pleasant experience for herself.

“Usually,” she explained, “I can control the narrative in the dream, so for example, if I’m unhappy with the way things are going in the dream, I can change it.”

Lucid dreaming is certainly an attractive and fascinating prospect; being able to explore our own inner worlds with full awareness that we are in a dream is intriguing and has an almost magical flavor to it.

Share on PinterestLucid dreaming may help people get rid of their nightmares and resolve their fears.

However, can lucid dreaming have any practical applications?

Dr. Denholm Aspy, at the University of Adelaide in Australia, is a researcher who specializes in lucid dreaming.

He explained to MNT that this experience can actually be therapeutic. Its main application, Dr. Aspy said, is to address nightmares — especially recurring nightmares, which may affect a person’s quality of life.

The practice of learning to lucid dream to stop nightmares from occurring or recurring, he explained, is called “lucid dreaming therapy.”

“If you can help someone who’s having nightmares to become lucid during that nightmare,” he said, “then that gives them the ability to exert control over themselves or over the nightmare itself.”

“[L]et’s say you’re being attacked by someone in a nightmare. You could try to talk to the attacker. You could ask them, ‘Why are you appearing in my dreams?’ or ‘What do you need to resolve this conflict with me?'”

Dr. Denholm Aspy

“Some people,” he added, “take on superpowers or special abilities, [so] they can fight back against the attacker. And then you can also try to escape, so things like flying away, or even doing techniques to deliberately wake up from the nightmare.”

Lucid dreaming also has the potential to help people with phobias, such as a fear of flying or a fear of spiders.

“If a person has a particular phobia, then their lucid dream environment […] provides an interesting opportunity to do things like exposure therapy, where you gradually expose yourself to the thing you’re afraid of, in an attempt to gradually overcome that fear,” Dr. Aspy said.

This is possible, he added, because dream environments can provide a realistic enough experience without it actually feeling unsafe. During lucid dreaming, an individual knows that they are not in the real world, so they may safely explore their fears without actually feeling threatened.

‘Lucid dreaming is a kind of creative activity’

At the same time, lucid dreaming is also attractive as an unusual means of entertainment — much like the immersive experience of virtual reality.

An experienced lucid dreamer might be able to “go on an adventure” and interact with people and things in ways they may not be able to in real life.

The lucid dreamer who spoke to MNT said that she thinks of the experience as something akin to storytelling, which makes her feel happier upon waking up:

“Lucid dreaming for me is a kind of creative activity — I get to explore what my dreams are telling me a little bit versus what my conscious mind wants. It’s not got much use apart from just being interesting, and it makes me happy usually […]. I tend to wake up quite content.”

“I do lucid dreaming for fun,” she went on to say. “I enjoy it, and as someone who enjoys storytelling, it’s a similar experience to writing a story or playing a video game. You get immersed in a narrative that involves you in some way.”

There are many techniques that people who want to try lucid dreaming or perfect their lucid dreaming experiences employ.

Share on PinterestText shifts in dreams, so you may become aware that you are dreaming by trying to reread it.

A 2017 study that Dr. Aspy and colleagues conducted tested the efficacy of three common techniques.

The first is called “reality testing.” This may involve verifying whether or not you are dreaming both in real life and during a dream.

For instance, throughout the day, a person may want to ask themselves, “Am I dreaming right now?” as they try to make their hand pass through a solid wall.

This technique relies on intention. In real life, the wall will remain solid and impenetrable, but in a dream, the hand will easily pass through it.

Another “reality check” is rereading a line of text. In real life, if we read the text on a poster, it will stay the same when we reread it. In a dream, however, the text will constantly shift.

Conducting these experiments repeatedly throughout the day may make it easier to remember to conduct them during dreams, thus allowing the dreamer to gain awareness of the dream.

Another technique is “waking back to bed.” This requires setting an alarm to wake oneself up around 5–6 hours after going to sleep.

Once awake, the person should aim to remain awake for a while before going back to sleep. This technique is supposed to immerse the sleeper immediately into REM, which is the phase of sleep during which they are most likely to experience a lucid dream.

Lucid dreaming may also occur through “mnemonic induction. ” This is another technique that requires intent and lots of practice.

With mnemonic induction, a person must repeat to themselves — just before going to bed — a phrase such as, “Tonight, I will notice that I am dreaming,” so as to “program” themselves to achieve in-dream lucidity.

Dream journals and meditation

It also appears that those who find it easy to lucid dream do not have much trouble recalling their dreams on a regular basis.

“When it comes to lucid dreaming, the strongest predictor of whether you have lucid dreams or not is how good you are at remembering your ordinary dreams,” Dr. Aspy explained.

Therefore, some people who are interested in exploring their dreams with full awareness may find it useful to keep a dream journal in which they record the dreams they have each night in as much detail as possible.

The lucid dreamer we interviewed corroborated this idea by explaining that, for a long time, she used to enjoy writing down her dreams upon waking up.

Another practice that may aid lucid dreaming is meditation, or mindfulness, as it “trains” people to become more aware of themselves and their surroundings in general.

“A lot of people are interested in meditation and mindfulness as a way to have lucid dreams,” said Dr. Aspy, explaining, “The idea there is that if you’re more aware during the day, you’re more likely to notice that you’re dreaming while you’re asleep.”

One concern that some people express about engaging in lucid dreaming, if they are able to achieve it, is that they may get “stuck” in a dream and find it more difficult to wake up.

However, Dr. Aspy explained to MNT that this should be no cause for concern; usually, people are only able to sleep (and dream) for a set amount of time every night, so it is unlikely that anyone would get “stuck” sleeping.

He told us, “The main reason for that is — pretty much no matter what you do, you are only going to, on average, only have a certain amount of sleep and dreaming every night. There are some things that you can do to increase it a little bit, but you can’t really sustain that for very long.”

Another concern some people have is that engaging in lucid dreaming requires focus and effort, which might mean that the sleeper does not get enough rest. In fact, the authors of a 2019 article expressed concern that frequent lucid dreaming may lead to disrupted sleep.

However, Dr. Aspy explained that the lucid dreamers with whom he has worked in the past have not reported more tiredness or poorer sleep quality as a result of lucid dreaming.

He did, however, issue a warning to aspiring lucid dreamers:

“I generally recommend that people don’t pursue lucid dreaming if they have certain mental health problems.”

One example of this is schizophrenia. This condition may cause people to have difficulty distinguishing between hallucinations and real-life events. In some cases, Dr. Aspy told us, lucid dreaming may actually exacerbate the condition.

Other scientists ask whether or not encouraging lucid dreaming might blur the line between sleep-wake psychological boundaries. They call for more research into how it might affect certain vulnerable people, including those who experience dissociation.

Lucid dreaming may be a fascinating, helpful, or pleasant experience, but you should consider why you are interested in achieving it and what you expect to get from it before trying to experiment.

10 principles that should never be sacrificed for the sake of relationships

Even if it seems to you that it is necessary. Even if he insists. Even if you love him very much.

Snezhana Gribatskaya

Tags:

Relationship

age

Relationships with men

Work on yourself nine0003

Do not do that

Inner freedom

This is the most important principle that should never be sacrificed. No matter who or what encroaches on your inner freedom, you must not give in. Because otherwise collapse is inevitable: sooner or later, one way or another, but the lack of inner freedom will lead you to heavy addiction. And it doesn't matter from whom. Your sweetheart can be a wonderful person, he can match you 100% and feel you subtly, but it won't matter anymore. Because addiction destroys. Addicts always end up the same way, it's just that heroin destroys faster than love shackles. But in the end, there is no difference: the disintegration of a personality may look different, but it is always a disintegration. nine0003

Appearance

You are your body. Sooner or later, we all come to this conclusion and stop forcing ourselves and fitting into invented standards. The stronger and freer you are, the faster you will accept yourself for who you are. This does not mean that you will stop caring for yourself. On the contrary, it means that you will begin to take care of yourself with love. Improve and protect what you like about yourself. Do not break in yourself what someone else does not like. Because it is also a way of self-destruction. nine0003

You will probably object: what about the requests of a loved one? You don't want him to grow a beer belly and beard either, if you fell in love with him slender, fit and clean-shaven. That's right: we can express our desires to loved ones. But we can't force them to do it. You can change yourself for the sake of a man if the changes do not cause internal protest. If you are a brunette and you feel like some kind of Carmen (or Morticia Addams, or Scarlett, or Trinity), and your darling insists that you change your hair and become some kind of Marilyn, you still won’t succeed. Your appearance cannot conflict with the inner world. If you try to live in this conflict, you will hate yourself. And you will hate a man too, by the way. nine0003

True friendship

The older we get, the fewer truly close people remain next to us. This is just such a life law: while we are young, we are open to everything new and ready to accept a lot. With age, we become conservative and strive for comfort. And we can only be comfortable with those people who do not need to explain anything. Yes, of course, coincidences happen, and you can find a new close friend simply because life unexpectedly brought together two very similar people in the same space. But it is still a rarity and luck. Basically, old friends, proven over the years, remain with us. And they should never be abandoned. If a man insists on breaking up with your close friend, it is better to break off relations with a man. He doesn't love you. No one wishes their loved ones suffering, pain and loss. nine0003

Self-control

You are a grown woman. You are in control of your life. All important decisions regarding your own person are made by you and only you. It’s great when a loving man is next to you, always ready to help: to advise, support, do together with you what you yourself, for some reason, find it difficult to decide. This, in fact, is what we are looking for in a relationship (he, too, by the way). And this is very cool - as long as the partner does not try to snatch the remote control of your life from your hands. He must stay with you. nine0003

Financial Independence

If you want to have children, you will most likely lose your financial independence temporarily when your children are young and it will be very difficult to combine work and motherhood. This is, in principle, an interesting experience, if you have a reliable partner. But you can’t agree to the role of a “husband’s wife”, who sits at home and is completely dependent on her husband’s earnings. Unless, of course, you have passive income (for example, you rent an apartment). Financial dependence is simply difficult if you are only responsible for yourself, and literally criminal if you have children. Even if a man appreciates your domestic work and pays for it, if you do not feel dependent, you still have to earn money yourself. Because life is unpredictable. Tomorrow your darling may leave. Get sick. Die. His money, on which you were dependent, will disappear in an instant. What will you do then? nine0003

Personal space

Everyone needs a personal space, everyone needs the opportunity to be alone sometimes. If you are a resident of a metropolis, you need this doubly - your psyche is subjected to daily attacks: too many people, too much noise, too crowded. You are always in tension, to which you are already accustomed, and you do not notice it. But sooner or later, chronic stress will make itself felt - and you will get sick. Sometimes you need to be alone: ​​turn off communication and take a break. This should never be sacrificed. Just because otherwise you will break. nine0003

Your body is your business

It's not about looks, it's about your reproductive system. The moment a man and a woman decide to have sex, they both take risks. A man risks the freedom that a childless person has. You risk your health and even life. Because it is you who bears and gives birth (or does not give birth - as you choose). You risk much more. That's why you choose the method of protection. You are planning a pregnancy. You decide how many children you will have and when. A man has an advisory vote, you can take it into account, or you can not take it. And this does not mean that only you are responsible. nine0003

Wishes and dreams

What you dream about should stay with you. If a man does not share your desires, he has the right not to help you fulfill them. But you have no right to interfere. Relationships are, at their core, a daily compromise. Both of you will give up something important, simply because there are two of you now, and you want a harmonious relationship. And they are impossible without compromise. Everyone will give up something - for the common good. But giving up and giving up are two different things. What is truly important to you should stay with you. Because otherwise it won't be you. nine0003

Habits and pleasures

Our brain is a rather lazy thing: it gets used to a certain pattern and tries to repeat it so as not to waste resources on creating a new pattern. That is why it is so difficult for us to give up habits, including bad ones. Because they, oddly enough, make us happy. And we also have our little joys. And they make us doubly happy. And happiness is just chemistry, but the chemistry is very subtle: if you deprive yourself of joys, you will not be able to endure and get used to it. The brain is broken. This is called depression and leads to sad consequences. Up to death. Therefore, if you need a cat for happiness, may you always have a cat. Even if he will shit on your sweetheart's slippers all his life. This cat is not just a malevolent ball of fur. He is your source of strength. nine0003

Independence

And by the way, about cats: there are a lot of jokes on the Web about a “strong and independent woman” who lives with forty cats, and she has nothing else. No relationship, no family, no man around. "It's horrible!" - as the network jokers would tell us. "It's waiting for you!" they threaten. We have a question: is this waiting for you, if - what? If you are strong and independent? That is, arguing logically, we will come to the conclusion that men prefer the weak and dependent. And if you want personal happiness, you need to become one. nine0003

No matter how. The weak and dependent do not admire anyone. They are laughed at. These same jokes about "stupid and helpless blondes" are a mockery of weakness. Jokes about "Oh, everyone!" is a mockery of weakness. Jokes about "I didn't touch anything, it's on its own!" are mockery of weakness and dependence. A woman who is incapable of being strong and independent is only needed by abusers. This is a very convenient victim who will never go anywhere, who can be mocked with impunity until she finally breaks down. A man with a normal psyche wants to see a woman next to him, and not a victim, not an "eternal child" and not a frightened creature unable to take care of himself. Therefore, if you feel that your independence is being encroached upon, use the power that you have. Use in order not to sacrifice the most important thing. nine0003

Photo: Getty Images

what is maladaptive daydreaming and how it can ruin your life - HEROINE

Daydreaming before bed, on the way to work or, what is there, during a boring meeting is a common thing. Fantasy is something that is customary to develop, stimulate, all the more surprising that it can be a threat. We will tell you what obsessive dreams are and how they can affect your life.

What are obsessive dreams

The term "maladaptive daydreaming" or "obsessive daydreaming" was coined by Israeli psychology professor Eli Somer back in 2002. So the scientist called the person's excessive craving for intense mental activity aimed at inventing various plots and characters. We are all prone to daydreaming in one way or another, but we can only talk about maladaptive daydreaming when dreams begin to crowd out real life and take up most of our time. At the same time, the person is fully aware that these are fantasies and does not take them for truth, as is the case with hallucinations. nine0003

Obsessive daydreaming is not a diagnosis but a psychological concept and is not found in official guidelines for mental disorders. However, this does not prevent specialists around the world from studying this phenomenon and developing ways to help people suffering from obsessive dreams.

How to understand that you are a prisoner of fantasy

It is difficult for you to distract yourself from your fantasies

The main difference between maladaptive dreams and the usual habit of daydreaming is the ease with which fantasies appear and disappear. When a person accidentally daydreams, returning to reality is easy for him and, as a rule, does not cause much irritation. In the case of maladaptive daydreaming, people completely withdraw from the world, become deeply involved in fantasy and can spend a very long time in this state. Their return to reality is often accompanied by disappointment. nine0003

Sometimes in his dreams a person can forget where he was going or driving, hurt himself if his fantasies are caught while walking or playing sports. Physical activity and listening to music often contribute to daydreaming.

If we are usually distracted from reality in order to dream, in the case of obsessive dreams, on the contrary, a person is more likely to be distracted by real life in between endless fantasies.

In dreams you create a detailed world

Another feature of obsessive dreams is that they are extremely detailed. A person comes up with a carefully crafted world with his characters, details, plot. He returns to this world again and again, this can go on for years. Sometimes it's like a TV series. At the same time, dreams are very vivid, and the feeling of presence is better than in a 5D cinema.

With maladaptive daydreaming, people often become very attached to their characters, invent serious action-packed dramas for them, which they experience emotionally. It is one thing when such a world is created with a real purpose - to write a book, a script, and so on, another - when it displaces real life and is not connected with it in any way. nine0003

Daydreaming takes a very long time

Daydreaming becomes maladaptive when dreams start to crowd out reality. A person spends most of his time on them, which inevitably affects his life. He has little time at work, does not devote time to relationships with people, does not achieve goals. From this, real life brings even more disappointments, which makes the world of dreams even more attractive.

Read on the topic:Thoughts are material: what is manifestation and why is it a trend in 2020

When daydreaming becomes a threat

Some researchers believe that maladaptive daydreaming may develop as a result of more serious mental disorders: anxiety, ADHD, OCD. Perhaps people who have experienced psychological trauma in childhood are prone to it, obsessive dreams for them become a form of dissociation and help to get away from difficult emotions.


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