# Maladaptive Daydreaming.



## BlueBlack (May 13, 2014)

Hi, as you know excessive daydreaming, physical movements, talking to yourself etc. "All in the head" kind of thing. Anyway, are there any enneatypes that are prone to malapdative daydreaming or are all the withdrawn types equally prone to it? And.. describe how you tend to react when you're in that process, haha. maintaining self awareness while daydreaming..


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## Quang (Sep 4, 2014)

SX/SP 459 and 479 are most likely to be daydreamers because they are self-identified with passive wishful thinking. If you look at their integration points, 9 becomes 3 and 4 becomes 1. Both characteristics of 1 and 3 are associated with having the competence, self-control, structure, and organisation to make their 'dreams' come true, otherwise without discipline, their affirmations will lead to delusional or unrealistic thinking.

459 feels most detached from physical reality and self-identified with their inner worlds ('withdrawn triad'), while 479 feels most attached to brighter daydreams of lush expeditions. 469 is more of a self-doubting, worrying 'damsel in distress' archetype that anxiously waits for her 'rescuer' (268).


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

I am prone to this when unhappy. I am 1w2 and both 1 and 2 have connection to 4. My daydreams usually include some forms of heroism.


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## The Wanderering ______ (Jul 17, 2012)

Been doing it for years man. Sometimes I share it with other people, knew a guy who did it with his girlfriend. She was never the same. Saw an old couple do it in a car.....just freaky, Yeah I think everyone's doin it.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

The Wanderering ______ said:


> Been doing it for years man. Sometimes I share it with other people, knew a guy who did it with his girlfriend. She was never the same. Saw an old couple do it in a car.....just freaky, Yeah I think everyone's doin it.


Are you sure you're talking about *daydreaming*?


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## Lord Bullingdon (Aug 9, 2014)

He's talking about _Maladaptive_ Daydreaming, guys. The kind where you walk around immersed in your fantasy world and enact parts of it and pace around and shit. You create elaborate other-worlds and often prefer to live in those rather than in reality. It can be so compulsive that you simply don't deal with life. The internet can absorb a lot of that, though.

As near as I can tell, "normal" people don't do this. But I do. I do this for lack of an outer life to participate in; it got particularly bad after chronic illness, where I would literally lie in bed and dream all day. This was due to an inability to get out of bed, mind you, but I've pretty much had a fantasy life since I was born. I was one of those "creative" kids that wrote stories and had imaginary friends and stuff. I believed I was an animal. 

I've always thought it was an acceptable way to pass time and when I consider that most other people don't do this, I (rather horribly enough) question the meaning of their lives rather than my own sanity. My maladaptive dreams are the medium with which I can recreate the future. Since you asked how I react in this mode, I tend to keep it private. I get pissed off if anyone disturbs my thought bubble, actually. I'm weirdly secretive about it, even among my own family. I yell at people if they barge in on me in the middle of my maladaptive dreams.

I'd imagine it was most common among withdrawn types, 4, 5, and 9. Maybe some varieties of 7, too. (Incidentally, I am most likely a 4, 5, or 7).


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

The Typeless Wonder said:


> You create elaborate other-worlds and often prefer to live in those rather than in reality. It can be so compulsive that you simply don't deal with life. The internet can absorb a lot of that, though.


I'd say the Internet can fuel this behaviour, there are entire forums dedicated to made-up worlds. Not to mention fandoms around movies like _Lord of the Rings_ or _Hunger Games_. It's easier to imagine you're Katniss than to build your own life to be proud of.

It would be interesting to go to one of these online escapist havens and ask people what E-type they are :crazy:



The Typeless Wonder said:


> I'd imagine it was most common among withdrawn types, 4, 5, and 9. Maybe some varieties of 7, too.


Keep in mind that 1s disintegrate to 4, 8s to 5 and 6s to 9. This leaves only 2s and 3s free from this scourge. (though I cannot imagine a 7w8 doing that)


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## Lord Bullingdon (Aug 9, 2014)

Blazkovitz said:


> I'd say the Internet can fuel this behaviour, there are entire forums dedicated to made-up worlds. Not to mention fandoms around movies like _Lord of the Rings_ or _Hunger Games_. It's easier to imagine you're Katniss than to build your own life to be proud of.
> 
> It would be interesting to go to one of these online escapist havens and ask people what E-type they are :crazy:


It would be!

Although I will say its not terribly easy to build a life. I've been trying for 30 some years, and shit always seems to happen to knock you back to square one. Much of life is truly boring, and sometimes the only thing you can do is just, hang on one more day. Not terribly epic. That's why we have imagination!!





> Keep in mind that 1s disintegrate to 4, 8s to 5 and 6s to 9. This leaves only 2s and 3s free from this scourge. (though I cannot imagine a 7w8 doing that)


Well that succinctly explains why I'm not a 2 or 3. Why not 7w8 though? Especially if they get disintegration on their wing.


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## TheProphetLaLa (Aug 18, 2014)

Yup. I've had this since I was 5 years old. I think I'm an enneagram 7, but I'm not entirely sure.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

The Typeless Wonder said:


> Why not 7w8 though? Especially if they get disintegration on their wing.


Isn't 7w8 called "the realist"?


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## Ghostsoul (May 10, 2014)

Blazkovitz said:


> Isn't 7w8 called "the realist"?


Type 7 Sx tends to daydream a lot.


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## Lord Bullingdon (Aug 9, 2014)

Blazkovitz said:


> Isn't 7w8 called "the realist"?


To say nothing of 8w7s! 

Both 6 and 8 are uber realistic types, so it seems like if 7w6s can dream maladaptively, then so can 7w8s.


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## The Wanderering ______ (Jul 17, 2012)

Oy!! Everyone should read this!!!

Maladaptive Daydreaming: Mental Illness or an Extension of the Creative Mind? - Earth Psyche

:happy::happy::happy::happy::laughing:


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## Lord Bullingdon (Aug 9, 2014)

^ Unless it's actually creating problems in your life (like you can't maintain a social life because you'd rather be at home lost in dreams, whatever)...and I'd argue that there's another issue going on that needs to be addressed if this is the case...then I'd argue such daydreaming is a contribution to mankind. And certainly the individual.

It's eccentric, sure, but calling it a disorder actually stigmatizes a gift. It's just one more way to make people who are "different" feel poorly about themselves, in my view. Get back on the production line, drone, your output is all that matters. THIS IS REALITY. Your dreams are bad and wrong!

Daydreams are the ether from which greater things are possible, and those that are immersive and intensely felt are simply all the greater.


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## haephestia (May 13, 2013)

I'm an 8w7 and I am borderline certain I would qualify for this (even though it is in no way a 'diagnosis'). I'm a writer, very involved in theatre and music as a youth and an ENFP. I spend a lot of my time alone pretending to be characters in some story or thing I'm writing to deal with particular emotions rather than dealing with them as I am. That said, I have bipolar disorder and dealing with depression is hard enough.

It doesn't interfere with my life other than me occasionally telling my husband he needs to be quiet and leave me alone when we're walking to the grocery store. When I have my iPod in and am listening to music, that's 'my world time'. Otherwise it doesn't impact any part of my life or ability to cope with it/care for patients, so I don't concern myself with it. It serves as a means to occupy my time when I'm running on the treadmill, bored as hell in class or going about business alone with no risk or chance of interacting with anyone real.

I would agree with The Typeless Wonder. I have a degree in psych and I am almost finished one in nursing, and daydreaming only serves to help enhance the lives of the creative and help entertain the lives of the bored as far as I'm concerned. If it gets to the point that it is interfering with their everyday function, I'd be more interested in some kind of schizoid/schizoaffective/schizophrenic angle than the 'they just get way too invested in their dream world' diagnosis.


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## The Wanderering ______ (Jul 17, 2012)

The Typeless Wonder said:


> ^ Unless it's actually creating problems in your life (like you can't maintain a social life because you'd rather be at home lost in dreams, whatever)...and I'd argue that there's another issue going on that needs to be addressed if this is the case...then I'd argue such daydreaming is a contribution to mankind. And certainly the individual.
> 
> It's eccentric, sure, but calling it a disorder actually stigmatizes a gift. It's just one more way to make people who are "different" feel poorly about themselves, in my view. Get back on the production line, drone, your output is all that matters. THIS IS REALITY. Your dreams are bad and wrong!
> 
> Daydreams are the ether from which greater things are possible, and those that are immersive and intensely felt are simply all the greater.


I love all of the above and I love you!!
You wanna fuck...er I mean have tea together?


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## Lord Bullingdon (Aug 9, 2014)

The Wanderering ______ said:


> I love all of the above and I love you!!
> You wanna fuck...er I mean have tea together?




*Insert witty comeback here*


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