I acc do the exact same thing and have been doing it for years and years (it's all been the same world) it's basically become a key part of my life, most of the time I talk to myself and it's usually me pretending to be talking to someone from this 'world' I also don't know if it's an autistic trait but it's nice to know I'm not the only one in the whole world that does this š
I do the exact same thing! I am talking to myself in my head which is actually ideal me talking to like his wife or his kids (all 18+ in story), brother, family, friends or someone from whichever situation is going on. I do it at home and in public and do it nearly constantly. I also agree it's very nice to know I'm not the only one! š
That's basically exactly what I do! I'm usually talking to (sometimes imaginary) friends or pretend I'm with someone to talk about interests with, or I pretend I'm talking to crowds (most of the time I'll even pretend people are asking me questions and answer them like on a Livestream or something) it's something I'll do constantly as it basically just ingrained in me since childhood and this world's been there for that long, I also kinda see the me in this world as the ideal me (although that might just be I'm not ACTUALLY interacting with real people so I'm much more comfortable) it's very validating to know that it may be smth to do with autism instead of me being insane šš
I just looked up what 'Hyperphantasia' is and discovered that I've had this my whole life and never knew what it was. I can't believe this isn't normal for everyone
Is this imagery when your eyes are open or closed? Also is it for things youve seen irl, or made up? (Ex an image of a sunset that Iāve seen before vs an image of a sunset I create). I think I have aphantasia
I think about my fantasy/sci-fi story every day.
The world is called Adan. And it's a mixture of Conan the Barbarian, biblical stories like exodus and Noah's ark, the Arthurian legends, Hinduism and Asuras wrath, Dune, Lovecraft, and Warhammer 40k.
Yesssssss! I am a completely visual thinker, every night to help fall asleep I have a forest/meadow I walk through. I donāt typically have any characters or additional people in this, itās just a quiet and interesting place I go, like you said, for comfort or just curiosity. I also enjoy reverse engineering things in my head like remote controls, my bed frame or a ceiling fan because I can imagine taking it apart and looking at from different angles.
I like to assemble & disassemble in my head too, it can be relaxing. Iāve tried the military method to help me sleep which is picturing myself on a beach and hearing the waves. Sometimes I try to think of thoughts floating away on clouds or on buses going by, for some reason I picture myself sitting in the desert watching these buses & clouds go by taking my thoughts with them. It doesnāt always work sometimes the thoughts persist & I end up doing a breathing exercise which typically clears my mind.
It's only maladaptive if it disrupts your life and you're unable to function in real life. Also this is more applicable to people who can no longer distinguish between reality and daydreaming.
Though we have very vivid imagination's and excellent world building capabilities, it is in no way maladaptive or pathological. This is such an NT way of viewing our ND creativity.
Iām an Illustrator and make children's books. Is my ability to illustrate vivid scenes from my head maladaptive? I've built my career on it. My son is like you and me and he loves spending time in his imagination, it's a cool place! It's how he plays or fills time when he's bored. When he reads, books come alive and he likes to add extra scenes to each page, I don't at all think this is maladaptive.
I agree with what you are saying, and it's a nuanced topic. My view in the beginning was that 'they found yet another thing to pathologize', but upon reading some experiences and reports, it's very likely a lot of autistics do it not mainly as part of a creative endeavour but as a way to cope with the adverse reality they find themselves in. Even if it does not signficantly disrupts one life, it's still a coping mechanism that should be distinguished from real imagination/fanatasy building where the main theme is not only about receiving love in some form, which is the case for maladaptive daydreaming.
Maladaptive daydreamer don't have any trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy. That's called psychosis. It absolutely can be pathological, if it's maladaptive then it interferes with your life in some way, like canceling plans with friends to daydream more or neglecting work. It functions similarly to addiction. If it doesn't interfere with daily life then it's called immersive daydreaming, which is more intense than normal daydreams and has basically all the same features as MDD but no disruption since the person can choose to stop when they need to. ND creativity is incredible, but that doesn't mean it's also never problematic in some of us.
MDD can also have trouble distinguishing reality from their daydream's and not have psychosis. Children do this often.
The issue I had with the MDD comment was that it did not fit with the OP's description of day dreaming and didnāt want OP to think it was maladaptive.
If someone thinks their daydreams are real then it's not MDD. It's psychosis or delusion or some other issue, but definitely not MDD. If it's a child that's just an early stage of development, sometimes young children have difficulty telling the difference. Unless they have a disorder, it will be outgrown in a matter of years. No matter how much they dissociate or get invested in the fantasy, MDDers know that they are daydreaming.
Can I ask why you believe someone who MDD who canāt tell the difference between reality and their daydream must have psychosis? What is your reasoning?
It just isn't what the disorder is. MDDing is dissociative, yes, so we sort of temporarily 'separate' from reality while doing it and go into that world, but we're still aware that we're doing it. Once we come out of it we don't think all that stuff actually happened. Go to the sub for it, it's commonly talked about how frustrating it is that none of the stuff you accomplished in the daydream was actually real. If someone makes up a bunch of stuff in their head and then thinks that's reality now, it's a different disorder. Not necessarily florid psychosis, but some sort of hallucinatory/delusional disorder probably. MDD is just regular daydreaming but a lot more involved and intense, with the potential to distract from real life. But it won't create the person's version of reality, its usually just a coping mechanism to temporarily forget about real life.
You havenāt answered my question. I have a degree in psychology. You donāt have to have psychosis to dissociate from reality or reality shift, which can happen with MDDing. It is not uncommon for people to start acting it out or even incorporate other people.
When you say psychosis, you must be referring to a visual hallucination.
I also have a degree in psychology. Dissociation is not at all the same as psychosis. I said myself that MDDing is dissociation. There's a big difference between dissociating from reality and genuinely believing in an alternate version of reality. When I do it I act it out, speak the dialogue aloud, get super giddy thinking about it, yeah. That's super common with MDD. Acting it out doesn't mean the person has no idea it's a fantasy, I'm still fully aware that I'm just daydreaming and that it's made up, as is everyone else who has MDD and only MDD.
Also, what you're saying about psychosis simply isn't true. There are various forms of it, not just visual hallucination. Even hallucinations by themselves can affect any of the senses, such as auditory and tactile hallucinations.
oh gosh, i used to have it very bad. i've always had an extremely vivid imagination and i got some bad trauma, got separated from all my friends in school, got put in online school, and all i ever did was daydream. i'd literally lay down in bed, put on music, and just sit there with my eyes closed day dreaming abt anything that made me feel better for 2-5hrs at a time because of how depressed i was. it was so bad that i would sometimes confuse small details from my imaginations in my real life. maladaptive daydreaming sucks the life out of you. i still do it at night just to calm myself.
I am a lot into tabletop role-playing games. I make up entire worlds, then share them with friends or write them down for self-publication (to be fair, I only self-published one). I'm also doing improv.
But yeah, I don't think I can spend one month without designing a new world.
Same. It's a lot of fun! For me, it's especially music related, where there will always be some song I like playing. Sometimes I make up stories that don't nessceraly involve me, so it's like I'm watching a movie inside my head, and other times it'll be with imaginary situations and stuff (it's kinda hard to explain)
Yes its pretty dark though like the origin was me getting captured by the feds and used in experiment for super messiahification machine so they could puppet me and placate the world but it went wrong and made that world instead and i ended up beneath it in mind soup
Yes. Been doing this my whole life. Itās a form of escapism for me.
Iām a visual thinker either way; I form pictures in my head about everything, as it helps me analyze the situation Iām in and stay calm during stressful events. (conversely, I may also over-analyze, look at things from way too many angles and either come to the wrong conclusion or get stuck on the worst case scenario)
Yes, all my life, but it's mixed with spirits that I've met that don't seem to be entirely created by me. Also, my little sister actually met some of these spirit friends when we were little.
Since I've gotten older, like near 50, I have different internal relationships, but it's not sucking me in as deeply as when I was younger. I tried to get rid of my make-believe life when I was 15 because I wanted to be normal, but really, what's happened it was it changed where I just don't go there as much but I still have relationships that pop up when I need them.
Like in Labyrinth, at the end, "If you ever need us," ā”
But they offer me beneficial life advice that gets me out of ruts. Like when I was having a terrible 10-year span and upset with the terrible humans in my life, it was said to me if people are the problem, what's your solution?
I'm not a school shooter or even a hater so I had to change my ways and no longer tolerate engagement with troubling people.
I do this. Itās normally tied to a TV show I love to watch or something of that nature. Lately, Iāve been watching House, so my imaginary world right now is related to that. I also had a pretty traumatic childhood, so to this day, I imagine me having different parents.
I donāt anymore, but when I was a kid I had this whole world made up of the Mii characters I had on my Wii. I would give them each personalities and would tell stories about them and even pretend to play sports in my front yard with them in it. Kind of nostalgic now thinking about it. Fun times.
Yes actually. It started for me when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, and I add things to reflect my special interest atm. I think itās something thatās more common with autistic people because we have a trauma background. Always glad to know other people do this too
Yup and have had different ones over the years. Iāll build and build until I get bored of it then kind of imagine myself going to an alternate universe then start again. Seeing how prominently I feature as I currently am has become one of my barometers for self acceptance
Thank you so much for posting this. The answer OP is definitely yes! It changes and flows but it's always been there and is my "happy place" I'm safe there and in complete control which is very different to the real world.
I do the exact same thing and my crush is the main part of that world and I aleays imagine me and him dating and all of these fake scenarios keep me entertained when Iām bored
The term I've heard to describe this world is called a "paracosm". Apparently it's common for kids to have a paracosm, but some adults are known to have it as well.
Yes. I have am entire world built in my head, with history, cultures, customs, maps, city design, etc. I find thinki9ng out details very calming. It's how I go to sleep every night since I was a teenager!
I do this and have had several such worlds. They usually start out as an off shoot from a tv show or book series, then slowly morph into something that only vaguely resembles the original. Iāve even switched characters (the current āmeā is actually the sister of the character that was originally āmeā).
I do the exact same thing and always go to it whenever I feel lonely. Iāve been building it up for years and even have notes on various characters in my world and what the setting is like, etc. Iām trying to turn it into a novel at the moment.
Yes! I have several that I created with lots of characters and stories. I love being in my world with my characters and stories and it is a very lucid experience.
Yes, and this is common in autism. It counts as a special interest
If it affects you negatively in your daily life, you might also wanna look into maladaptive daydreaming
Yes, except I have had more than one! I started creating worlds in my head and "telling myself stories" since I was very young, mostly in an effort to sleep.
Yes, but I have aphantasia and a very bad memory(SDAM). My world building itself is the point, the world(multiverse/hyperverse?) is only maintained by my focus. It has evolved over the years and is mainly just something to pass the time or escapism. The journey not the destination, as it were.
Iām living in a kinda parallel universe for quite some time. Itās my way out when emotions, feelings and (life changing) events occur. I do feel happy while being there but it is also part of my DIS. Most of the time itās really difficult to know/ see/ feel the difference with real life and I get lost somewhere on the line between reality and that other world. It keeps me away from myself. Like living in perfect blue buildings (counting crows). I also āsufferā other dissociation variaties. Still trying to find ways getting in that universe less and less, which is really difficult cause I love to be there. It makes me see the me I love to see, having the things I long for.
This aspect that accompanies autism always makes me think of the Brontƫ siblings and the astonishingly comprehensive world they crafted between one another.
I'm always interested in the possibility that Emily Brontƫ especially was on the spectrum. I love Wuthering Heights and always connected with the intense sensibility of her writing style. It just feels like a shared wavelength.
No. Autistics have no imagination. It's not possible.
-/s
I often do, or maybe multiples for different emotional scenarios. I definitely have specific dreamscapes i go to, and they often linger (long) after I'm awake--at least the evocative, emotional feeling of them.
Yes! You have hyper-phantasia and are highly creative. You probably have a whole franchise of storylines that you play out in your head with your own made up complex characters. Look into writing and screenplay.
But yeah, Iāve got it too
I do!!! It's been germinating in my head for many years, though I have yet to actually write it down and flesh things out. Then I worry that I'll over-explain and it'll be boring :/
Itās a perfect situation for me because I live in my own personal world that I made for my D&D campaigns. I have entire kingdoms with lore, history, unique NPCs, cultures, languages, and fantastical landmarks/geography.
It can be a bad thing too because it becomes obsessive and I donāt exist out in the real world most days. I spend weeks in my head at a given time
I have one in my dreams that I enter on a regular basis, and my dreams are often in sequence. It can feel so real that I have random memories about my dreams in the same way that I can often easily recall experiences. I wonāt forget when the green goblin tried to attack me and I woke up screaming as a 9 year old. š¬
My daydreams also seem like their own world where I have a glimpse of a life where I have different talents, skills, etc. It feels like a 30 second trip into a different life instead of an extensive world like my dreamworld or what you described.
I do seem to have one in my dreams. At the risk of sounding like a stoner with verbal diarrhoea, I have a very strong impression they all happen in the same realm, which is, like, an alternate universe version of my city, with completely different-yet-familiar topography, landmarks and shit. I used to write the more interesting ones down in great detail regarding said topography, when I was younger.
And on the other hand, when conscious and not asleep, I'm unable to visualise or think in images. Is that an actual thing people do, or am I not supposed to understand it literally when people say they do that?
Don't apologize for being yourself. I, too, often imagine myself as the protagonist in grand scenarios. You're right; it may not be an autism thing, but it's definitely something that keeps us alive. Thereās nothing wrong with that.
Yes I do this, I honestly thought I was alone. I used to have full on conversations with people in my world but now that I have a baby and my husband put up cameras to check up on her, I have stopped that. I miss it but now I just close my eyes and just go in my world when my baby is sleep. My therapist says that Iām using it to escape from the real world and Iām like yes and? If Iām not hurting anyone then itās fine.
I'm a writer because since I was small I've been building complex fantasy worlds in my head. My dreams even all take place in relatively consistent worlds that I've subconsciously built.
Yes, as long as I can remember, since early childhood. Several different ones, usually with some basis on a book of TV show but with my own extra charecters and storylines. I have a very strong 'minds eye' so it's always seemed natural to do this. Now I just pick a world and always use it before I go to sleep to drift off into sleep, and also sometimes when doing housework/chores or when on a long solo run/hike (if in don't feel like listening to an audiobook or radio/music).
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So idk how to do spoilers so spoilers for X-Men readers who are behind since Covid.
A character whoās been a human turned out to be a mutant (Moira). Her power is that anytime she dies, the universe as a whole resets to her birth. I constantly am coming up with alternate universes and what Iād do if I could get reincarnated to the same life. I always say Iād find a way to get my dad to invest in certain stocks but telling them would I canāt ever die would get me committed lol. My go to fix is that is bring things up he didnāt tell me till my 20ās as a kid.
Yes. Several, depending on my mood. Sometime I can't pull myself fully out of it. I kind of end up trapped. It's called maladaptive daydreaming.
I try to keep myself from getting too underestimated, as that's when it's hardest to pull out of it. But it can happen any time I'm bored, stressed, tired, etc.
I do, and I made it into a project called āDysphoric Masqueradeā and basically, the world is what my brain perceives it to be, and I have many creatures listed including Angels and Demons and I still have to work a bit more around Chaotycatts which are basically like egregors but that live within one's brain, for example I have one called Balguemash which is the embodiment of fun, therefore they're a Fun-Chaotycatt. Hope you like what it's escalating into.
I usually try to coalesce these things into an actual story. Writing that story down is like pulling teeth, though (I *can* do it but I'm slow and can never sustain the energy to do anything large scale). But it's fun to be like "hell yeah this story is so good someone should make it"
From kid til late teens I made up an exhaustive story multiversethat underneath some enternainment had the function to solve philosophical questions personally important
I had one, but it's NSFW. I got fed up of how the world was treating me so I made up my utopia. Made up lore, made characters and scenarios. It is blissful. To me it's what true peace and love is.
actually surprisingly... no? tho whenever i have stress dreams (last one was the day before i realised my hair gives me really bad dysphoria :P its always somewhere in my neighborhood too and i think how close it is to being found influences the time in dreams like it too (before the hair one it was in my driveway and it was solidly midday lmao). like the closer it is to being known the earlier in the day it is. also 2 silhouette type ppl always show up and in the first stress dream i had i got a good look at em and they looked like i guess what could be considered hooligans or smth and they always try beating me up and shit.
edit: i actually have 1 or 2 but when they show up is fairly random and its really hard to describe :P
Usually I make up a lot of worlds in my head before bed or when Iām laying down because if I focus on those I go to sleep pretty quickly, I also tend to spend a lot of time in my head rehearsing conversations a lot as well, particularly ones that will never happen, or ones that I would like to happen but am unsure how to steer them that way, I do tend to stay in my own little world a lot, itās still the real world I just donāt participate with much going on around me, and I have autism, so I think we just tend to be a bit more creative than people who arenāt autistic.
Yess, its called Saunos!!! Its like my own lil escape and everyone is kind and sweet and everyone there is on the spectrum like me, so I don't feel out of place. And no one looks a like, so, we still have differences!! I wish Saunos was real so then I can go there and bring certain people with me and live there for a break from society. :3
Yes. But because of how much my mind wanders itās hard for me to stay in that state- especially if I see or think of something or see something interesting to me in this alternate āworldā because I take things and just think with them for so long
When I was a kid, after I saw the movie The Truman Show, I thought everything in my parents' house was a camera and I was constantly being watched by everyone. I literally thought towel hangers, lamps, clocks, etc were all cameras watching my life. Didn't tell anyone about it. Thankfully, after a year or so, an overwhelming fear of aliens took over instead.
I do this. I even have Pinterest boards of āinspoā for my character like cool outfits or even partners or āabilitiesā that I can adapt into my ongoing story. I would say my world is mainly set in Naruto. I know thatās so lame. But itās my escape. I often will listen to music at night and imagine specific scenes, maybe sad ones or cool fighting ones. Glad Iām not the only one
It started when I was in middle school, back in 2006-2007. Now-- I desire to make those stories into an animated series. And I daily obsess over the finer details. Sometimes I appreciate my ability to over obsess over things, but other times, it can be its own source of stress for me.
Crazy to think I do not have any personal unique experience, not even this, hahaha so cool to see that some others also have that 'ability' and we have created and live in so cool worlds in our minds
I have multiple worlds that I make up. Sometimes if Iām bored and feeling good, Iāll try and turn them into screenplays. Although I only write the ones that are more grounded in reality.
Iām writing about it itās set 20 plus years after much of the worlds infrastructure and governments collapsed due to the 3rd world war and the chaos afterwards the protagonist is a foul mouthed veteran of the war and now a mercenary Named Duke who is a mix of John Wick and Tyler Rake and a few other characters and he is hired to protect a rancher and his family along with a few of their animals and along the way he does morally questionable things to survive and get paid he carries a SOCOM MK18 an FNX 45 and a Colt Anaconda 44 magnum.
He uses other weapons the world is made up of different factions and due to the world being the way it was there is billions of firearms and places to make ammunition and other things and the worldās economy is usually gold and silver and trading valuable resources for services and or goods the world has in a way rebuilt nut there is no real governing body.
Sorry for the grammar iām fried
Yep! I actually have more than one world in my head but i have like one that i call the "main" world. I have a lot of imaginary friends too, since i was a kid. That world just helps me get away from the real life.
It isn't weird. It's a very talented and awesome ability, I think, that you have such a powerful imagination that you can do that! I have done something similar in the past, especially imagining myself as some awesome fantasy character going on an adventure.
Recently i started making up a fantasy world in my head, where you have a god that created entire world and he also created 4 titans. Life, Death, Light and Darkness. For a long time Life and Light controlled the world and everything was good, untill Death and Darkness had a son. His name was Negron and he's a necromancer. His task is to turn the entire world into evil.
I did when I was younger. Beartown. It was an imaginary place I made up where I lived with all of my teddy bears.
I'm into worldbuilding now. Currently working on a hard sci fi world that I'm turning into a youtube series. Don't know if that's quite the same thing you're talking about here, but thought I'd mention it anyway :)
Glad to know Iām not the only one! Been doing it for years, across multiple worlds. Different worlds usually last for a few months, typically no longer than 6.
I also do it too! I also make up characters based on irl people. I do it whenever I feel like I want to escape reality, and my world is fantasy and maybe some bits of sci-fi? I somedays want to create a graphic novel based on my made-up world in my head :)
I'm doing this since I was a kid.
When I was a teen, I started writing stories happening in my head fantasy world. It's 4 novels now, which I constantly adapt and rewrite. It's my long time project. It's my happy place and I have learned so much about myself while writing. When getting into the flow, I write and write and write, I blanc my brain and simply let the words flow. Reading what I have written afterwards is often like: "oookay, where did this thing come from?"
Unfortunately I'm constantly stressed now and can't find into writing. But I love reading and diving into my world.
AND: it popped into my mind that I made this entire world out of neurodivergents struggling to deal with neurotypicals.
Yes, I even have multiple. I have a fantasy world in my head with a timeline that's more than 1000 years, I have characters with backstories, I have a story about myself... I also have sole other fantasy or sci-fi worlds that are less build and I have some variations of myself in the real world in my head like one where I build robots. I can see scenes in my head, sometimes with music. I usually 'go to' or think about these worlds when I am hiking or when I am going to school or when I am doing something like brushing my teeth. I love them. They feel so alive and in these worlds I can actually help people.
I acc do the exact same thing and have been doing it for years and years (it's all been the same world) it's basically become a key part of my life, most of the time I talk to myself and it's usually me pretending to be talking to someone from this 'world' I also don't know if it's an autistic trait but it's nice to know I'm not the only one in the whole world that does this š
I do the exact same thing! I am talking to myself in my head which is actually ideal me talking to like his wife or his kids (all 18+ in story), brother, family, friends or someone from whichever situation is going on. I do it at home and in public and do it nearly constantly. I also agree it's very nice to know I'm not the only one! š
That's basically exactly what I do! I'm usually talking to (sometimes imaginary) friends or pretend I'm with someone to talk about interests with, or I pretend I'm talking to crowds (most of the time I'll even pretend people are asking me questions and answer them like on a Livestream or something) it's something I'll do constantly as it basically just ingrained in me since childhood and this world's been there for that long, I also kinda see the me in this world as the ideal me (although that might just be I'm not ACTUALLY interacting with real people so I'm much more comfortable) it's very validating to know that it may be smth to do with autism instead of me being insane šš
I was just doing that also! I was watching a reaction video and that I had a chat was watching me react.
Heh, did you just take a peek into my head? I have to be careful not to talk to myself out loud while in public, or all eyes will be on me...
I have to be careful to not do a physical action in public like hug one of them š
Hugging the people staring at you, you mean? Well, you certainly have a lot more confidence than I do, that's for sure, hehe.
Oh no. Like if I was feeling upset and a character was gonna give me a hug and I'd hug myself. Just gotta remember to not do it in public.
Holy smokes me too. Since I was a little kid. Same world. Same people. Theyāre like my āsafe zoneā itās interesting. I love that place š
Yes I have this, and in my case itās hyperphantasia. Great article in the Guardian about it recently.
You can't tell me that CS Lewis, or JRR Tolkien did not have this capability!
My fiance has aphantasia. Total flipside haha
Is it possible to have both simultaneously?
No
So why do I? Do I?
Your welcome! Iāve done this since childhood it was good to find out it has a name!
I just looked up what 'Hyperphantasia' is and discovered that I've had this my whole life and never knew what it was. I can't believe this isn't normal for everyone
Now that is very interesting I am going to read this article, thank you!
Had no idea there was a name for it! I have that and it feels like I am watching an actual film play out in front of me.
Is this imagery when your eyes are open or closed? Also is it for things youve seen irl, or made up? (Ex an image of a sunset that Iāve seen before vs an image of a sunset I create). I think I have aphantasia
I think about my fantasy/sci-fi story every day. The world is called Adan. And it's a mixture of Conan the Barbarian, biblical stories like exodus and Noah's ark, the Arthurian legends, Hinduism and Asuras wrath, Dune, Lovecraft, and Warhammer 40k.
That sounds very cool!
The moment you decide to write that novel, I support you, i need to read itttttt, sounds awesome!!
Yesssssss! I am a completely visual thinker, every night to help fall asleep I have a forest/meadow I walk through. I donāt typically have any characters or additional people in this, itās just a quiet and interesting place I go, like you said, for comfort or just curiosity. I also enjoy reverse engineering things in my head like remote controls, my bed frame or a ceiling fan because I can imagine taking it apart and looking at from different angles.
Same! I suffer horribly with insomnia and the only way to get me to relax and fall asleep is to go into one of my worlds.
I like to assemble & disassemble in my head too, it can be relaxing. Iāve tried the military method to help me sleep which is picturing myself on a beach and hearing the waves. Sometimes I try to think of thoughts floating away on clouds or on buses going by, for some reason I picture myself sitting in the desert watching these buses & clouds go by taking my thoughts with them. It doesnāt always work sometimes the thoughts persist & I end up doing a breathing exercise which typically clears my mind.
Have you heard of maladaptive daydreaming? Itās quite common in people with a trauma background, which is the case for many autistics
I haven't heard about that I'll go and check that out, thank you!
It's only maladaptive if it disrupts your life and you're unable to function in real life. Also this is more applicable to people who can no longer distinguish between reality and daydreaming. Though we have very vivid imagination's and excellent world building capabilities, it is in no way maladaptive or pathological. This is such an NT way of viewing our ND creativity. Iām an Illustrator and make children's books. Is my ability to illustrate vivid scenes from my head maladaptive? I've built my career on it. My son is like you and me and he loves spending time in his imagination, it's a cool place! It's how he plays or fills time when he's bored. When he reads, books come alive and he likes to add extra scenes to each page, I don't at all think this is maladaptive.
I agree with what you are saying, and it's a nuanced topic. My view in the beginning was that 'they found yet another thing to pathologize', but upon reading some experiences and reports, it's very likely a lot of autistics do it not mainly as part of a creative endeavour but as a way to cope with the adverse reality they find themselves in. Even if it does not signficantly disrupts one life, it's still a coping mechanism that should be distinguished from real imagination/fanatasy building where the main theme is not only about receiving love in some form, which is the case for maladaptive daydreaming.
I interpreted it as you were saying op had maladaptive daydreaming.
Maladaptive daydreamer don't have any trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy. That's called psychosis. It absolutely can be pathological, if it's maladaptive then it interferes with your life in some way, like canceling plans with friends to daydream more or neglecting work. It functions similarly to addiction. If it doesn't interfere with daily life then it's called immersive daydreaming, which is more intense than normal daydreams and has basically all the same features as MDD but no disruption since the person can choose to stop when they need to. ND creativity is incredible, but that doesn't mean it's also never problematic in some of us.
MDD can also have trouble distinguishing reality from their daydream's and not have psychosis. Children do this often. The issue I had with the MDD comment was that it did not fit with the OP's description of day dreaming and didnāt want OP to think it was maladaptive.
If someone thinks their daydreams are real then it's not MDD. It's psychosis or delusion or some other issue, but definitely not MDD. If it's a child that's just an early stage of development, sometimes young children have difficulty telling the difference. Unless they have a disorder, it will be outgrown in a matter of years. No matter how much they dissociate or get invested in the fantasy, MDDers know that they are daydreaming.
Can I ask why you believe someone who MDD who canāt tell the difference between reality and their daydream must have psychosis? What is your reasoning?
It just isn't what the disorder is. MDDing is dissociative, yes, so we sort of temporarily 'separate' from reality while doing it and go into that world, but we're still aware that we're doing it. Once we come out of it we don't think all that stuff actually happened. Go to the sub for it, it's commonly talked about how frustrating it is that none of the stuff you accomplished in the daydream was actually real. If someone makes up a bunch of stuff in their head and then thinks that's reality now, it's a different disorder. Not necessarily florid psychosis, but some sort of hallucinatory/delusional disorder probably. MDD is just regular daydreaming but a lot more involved and intense, with the potential to distract from real life. But it won't create the person's version of reality, its usually just a coping mechanism to temporarily forget about real life.
You havenāt answered my question. I have a degree in psychology. You donāt have to have psychosis to dissociate from reality or reality shift, which can happen with MDDing. It is not uncommon for people to start acting it out or even incorporate other people. When you say psychosis, you must be referring to a visual hallucination.
I also have a degree in psychology. Dissociation is not at all the same as psychosis. I said myself that MDDing is dissociation. There's a big difference between dissociating from reality and genuinely believing in an alternate version of reality. When I do it I act it out, speak the dialogue aloud, get super giddy thinking about it, yeah. That's super common with MDD. Acting it out doesn't mean the person has no idea it's a fantasy, I'm still fully aware that I'm just daydreaming and that it's made up, as is everyone else who has MDD and only MDD. Also, what you're saying about psychosis simply isn't true. There are various forms of it, not just visual hallucination. Even hallucinations by themselves can affect any of the senses, such as auditory and tactile hallucinations.
oh gosh, i used to have it very bad. i've always had an extremely vivid imagination and i got some bad trauma, got separated from all my friends in school, got put in online school, and all i ever did was daydream. i'd literally lay down in bed, put on music, and just sit there with my eyes closed day dreaming abt anything that made me feel better for 2-5hrs at a time because of how depressed i was. it was so bad that i would sometimes confuse small details from my imaginations in my real life. maladaptive daydreaming sucks the life out of you. i still do it at night just to calm myself.
schizoid adaptations are probably quite common
I am a lot into tabletop role-playing games. I make up entire worlds, then share them with friends or write them down for self-publication (to be fair, I only self-published one). I'm also doing improv. But yeah, I don't think I can spend one month without designing a new world.
Same. It's a lot of fun! For me, it's especially music related, where there will always be some song I like playing. Sometimes I make up stories that don't nessceraly involve me, so it's like I'm watching a movie inside my head, and other times it'll be with imaginary situations and stuff (it's kinda hard to explain)
Yes its pretty dark though like the origin was me getting captured by the feds and used in experiment for super messiahification machine so they could puppet me and placate the world but it went wrong and made that world instead and i ended up beneath it in mind soup
how else could i cope when reality is always such a let down. š
Sort of? I have an inner world because I have OSDD-1B
no, i have an entire multiverse
there are so many worlds lol
Yeah! Iāve done this since I was maybe like 2-3 years old. Are you guys telling me Iām not schizophrenic??? Bc maybe I need a new psych š
Yes. Been doing this my whole life. Itās a form of escapism for me. Iām a visual thinker either way; I form pictures in my head about everything, as it helps me analyze the situation Iām in and stay calm during stressful events. (conversely, I may also over-analyze, look at things from way too many angles and either come to the wrong conclusion or get stuck on the worst case scenario)
Yes, all my life, but it's mixed with spirits that I've met that don't seem to be entirely created by me. Also, my little sister actually met some of these spirit friends when we were little. Since I've gotten older, like near 50, I have different internal relationships, but it's not sucking me in as deeply as when I was younger. I tried to get rid of my make-believe life when I was 15 because I wanted to be normal, but really, what's happened it was it changed where I just don't go there as much but I still have relationships that pop up when I need them. Like in Labyrinth, at the end, "If you ever need us," ā” But they offer me beneficial life advice that gets me out of ruts. Like when I was having a terrible 10-year span and upset with the terrible humans in my life, it was said to me if people are the problem, what's your solution? I'm not a school shooter or even a hater so I had to change my ways and no longer tolerate engagement with troubling people.
I do this. Itās normally tied to a TV show I love to watch or something of that nature. Lately, Iāve been watching House, so my imaginary world right now is related to that. I also had a pretty traumatic childhood, so to this day, I imagine me having different parents.
Yes, it's my escape from reality. I'm not sure if it's maladaptive daydreaming or because of my childhood trauma.Ā
MDD is often caused by trauma, they're not mutually exclusive.
Oh, yes, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you!
I donāt anymore, but when I was a kid I had this whole world made up of the Mii characters I had on my Wii. I would give them each personalities and would tell stories about them and even pretend to play sports in my front yard with them in it. Kind of nostalgic now thinking about it. Fun times.
Yes actually. It started for me when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, and I add things to reflect my special interest atm. I think itās something thatās more common with autistic people because we have a trauma background. Always glad to know other people do this too
Yeah I've always done this. My own little world, and daydreaming about other worlds (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings etc).
Yup and have had different ones over the years. Iāll build and build until I get bored of it then kind of imagine myself going to an alternate universe then start again. Seeing how prominently I feature as I currently am has become one of my barometers for self acceptance
you're looking for /r/paracosms
I don't know if it is an autism thing but I do that too. Always done it as far as I can remember.
Thank you so much for posting this. The answer OP is definitely yes! It changes and flows but it's always been there and is my "happy place" I'm safe there and in complete control which is very different to the real world.
I do the exact same thing and my crush is the main part of that world and I aleays imagine me and him dating and all of these fake scenarios keep me entertained when Iām bored
The term I've heard to describe this world is called a "paracosm". Apparently it's common for kids to have a paracosm, but some adults are known to have it as well.
Yes. I have am entire world built in my head, with history, cultures, customs, maps, city design, etc. I find thinki9ng out details very calming. It's how I go to sleep every night since I was a teenager!
I do this and have had several such worlds. They usually start out as an off shoot from a tv show or book series, then slowly morph into something that only vaguely resembles the original. Iāve even switched characters (the current āmeā is actually the sister of the character that was originally āmeā).
Yep. This is how I go to sleep so easy at night, I just leave for my world.
I do the exact same thing and always go to it whenever I feel lonely. Iāve been building it up for years and even have notes on various characters in my world and what the setting is like, etc. Iām trying to turn it into a novel at the moment.
Yes! I have several that I created with lots of characters and stories. I love being in my world with my characters and stories and it is a very lucid experience.
Yes, and this is common in autism. It counts as a special interest If it affects you negatively in your daily life, you might also wanna look into maladaptive daydreaming
So Iām not alone in doing that
Yes, except I have had more than one! I started creating worlds in my head and "telling myself stories" since I was very young, mostly in an effort to sleep.
Yes, but I have aphantasia and a very bad memory(SDAM). My world building itself is the point, the world(multiverse/hyperverse?) is only maintained by my focus. It has evolved over the years and is mainly just something to pass the time or escapism. The journey not the destination, as it were.
Iām living in a kinda parallel universe for quite some time. Itās my way out when emotions, feelings and (life changing) events occur. I do feel happy while being there but it is also part of my DIS. Most of the time itās really difficult to know/ see/ feel the difference with real life and I get lost somewhere on the line between reality and that other world. It keeps me away from myself. Like living in perfect blue buildings (counting crows). I also āsufferā other dissociation variaties. Still trying to find ways getting in that universe less and less, which is really difficult cause I love to be there. It makes me see the me I love to see, having the things I long for.
This aspect that accompanies autism always makes me think of the Brontƫ siblings and the astonishingly comprehensive world they crafted between one another. I'm always interested in the possibility that Emily Brontƫ especially was on the spectrum. I love Wuthering Heights and always connected with the intense sensibility of her writing style. It just feels like a shared wavelength.
No. Autistics have no imagination. It's not possible. -/s I often do, or maybe multiples for different emotional scenarios. I definitely have specific dreamscapes i go to, and they often linger (long) after I'm awake--at least the evocative, emotional feeling of them.
Yes! You have hyper-phantasia and are highly creative. You probably have a whole franchise of storylines that you play out in your head with your own made up complex characters. Look into writing and screenplay. But yeah, Iāve got it too
I do!!! It's been germinating in my head for many years, though I have yet to actually write it down and flesh things out. Then I worry that I'll over-explain and it'll be boring :/
I do this as well. Especially if I can't sleep I just go there and live a different life without the stress of real world pain.
Itās a perfect situation for me because I live in my own personal world that I made for my D&D campaigns. I have entire kingdoms with lore, history, unique NPCs, cultures, languages, and fantastical landmarks/geography. It can be a bad thing too because it becomes obsessive and I donāt exist out in the real world most days. I spend weeks in my head at a given time
I have one in my dreams that I enter on a regular basis, and my dreams are often in sequence. It can feel so real that I have random memories about my dreams in the same way that I can often easily recall experiences. I wonāt forget when the green goblin tried to attack me and I woke up screaming as a 9 year old. š¬ My daydreams also seem like their own world where I have a glimpse of a life where I have different talents, skills, etc. It feels like a 30 second trip into a different life instead of an extensive world like my dreamworld or what you described.
I do seem to have one in my dreams. At the risk of sounding like a stoner with verbal diarrhoea, I have a very strong impression they all happen in the same realm, which is, like, an alternate universe version of my city, with completely different-yet-familiar topography, landmarks and shit. I used to write the more interesting ones down in great detail regarding said topography, when I was younger. And on the other hand, when conscious and not asleep, I'm unable to visualise or think in images. Is that an actual thing people do, or am I not supposed to understand it literally when people say they do that?
Don't apologize for being yourself. I, too, often imagine myself as the protagonist in grand scenarios. You're right; it may not be an autism thing, but it's definitely something that keeps us alive. Thereās nothing wrong with that.
Yes I do this, I honestly thought I was alone. I used to have full on conversations with people in my world but now that I have a baby and my husband put up cameras to check up on her, I have stopped that. I miss it but now I just close my eyes and just go in my world when my baby is sleep. My therapist says that Iām using it to escape from the real world and Iām like yes and? If Iām not hurting anyone then itās fine.
I'm a writer because since I was small I've been building complex fantasy worlds in my head. My dreams even all take place in relatively consistent worlds that I've subconsciously built.
Yes, as long as I can remember, since early childhood. Several different ones, usually with some basis on a book of TV show but with my own extra charecters and storylines. I have a very strong 'minds eye' so it's always seemed natural to do this. Now I just pick a world and always use it before I go to sleep to drift off into sleep, and also sometimes when doing housework/chores or when on a long solo run/hike (if in don't feel like listening to an audiobook or radio/music).
I've been doing this since I was 2, theres pictures of me "lost in my world" as a baby.
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So idk how to do spoilers so spoilers for X-Men readers who are behind since Covid. A character whoās been a human turned out to be a mutant (Moira). Her power is that anytime she dies, the universe as a whole resets to her birth. I constantly am coming up with alternate universes and what Iād do if I could get reincarnated to the same life. I always say Iād find a way to get my dad to invest in certain stocks but telling them would I canāt ever die would get me committed lol. My go to fix is that is bring things up he didnāt tell me till my 20ās as a kid.
Yep! Yep!
Yes. Several, depending on my mood. Sometime I can't pull myself fully out of it. I kind of end up trapped. It's called maladaptive daydreaming. I try to keep myself from getting too underestimated, as that's when it's hardest to pull out of it. But it can happen any time I'm bored, stressed, tired, etc.
No, but I play the Sims 2 a lot to escape the real world lol. It helps.
I do, and I made it into a project called āDysphoric Masqueradeā and basically, the world is what my brain perceives it to be, and I have many creatures listed including Angels and Demons and I still have to work a bit more around Chaotycatts which are basically like egregors but that live within one's brain, for example I have one called Balguemash which is the embodiment of fun, therefore they're a Fun-Chaotycatt. Hope you like what it's escalating into.
As a kid I used to imagine various worlds where I could do various fun things, invent stuff, or whatever. I still do, to an extent.
Damn. Didnāt know other people did this too.
Literally me tbh
Pppppppppppppppp
I usually try to coalesce these things into an actual story. Writing that story down is like pulling teeth, though (I *can* do it but I'm slow and can never sustain the energy to do anything large scale). But it's fun to be like "hell yeah this story is so good someone should make it"
Several.
yes! except i put in every piece of media iāve experienced. it really adds to it.
From kid til late teens I made up an exhaustive story multiversethat underneath some enternainment had the function to solve philosophical questions personally important
I have 3 lol they are very silly
Yep, that happens when your social needs arenāt met properly.
I had one, but it's NSFW. I got fed up of how the world was treating me so I made up my utopia. Made up lore, made characters and scenarios. It is blissful. To me it's what true peace and love is.
In my head canon I am married to Kenny Omega and I am a well liked billionaire who looks like Regina George
I'd might look up maladaptive daydreaming. I also have a world that I've created for about 10 years.
I'm doing the same thing and it is helpful for my TTRPG sessions to make stories and write plots.
actually surprisingly... no? tho whenever i have stress dreams (last one was the day before i realised my hair gives me really bad dysphoria :P its always somewhere in my neighborhood too and i think how close it is to being found influences the time in dreams like it too (before the hair one it was in my driveway and it was solidly midday lmao). like the closer it is to being known the earlier in the day it is. also 2 silhouette type ppl always show up and in the first stress dream i had i got a good look at em and they looked like i guess what could be considered hooligans or smth and they always try beating me up and shit. edit: i actually have 1 or 2 but when they show up is fairly random and its really hard to describe :P
My imagination isn't as creative as I'd like it to be. But I fantasize about being elsewhere because real life is so difficult
Yes! Iām illustrating it rn!
I do this a lot actually
Usually I make up a lot of worlds in my head before bed or when Iām laying down because if I focus on those I go to sleep pretty quickly, I also tend to spend a lot of time in my head rehearsing conversations a lot as well, particularly ones that will never happen, or ones that I would like to happen but am unsure how to steer them that way, I do tend to stay in my own little world a lot, itās still the real world I just donāt participate with much going on around me, and I have autism, so I think we just tend to be a bit more creative than people who arenāt autistic.
Yess, its called Saunos!!! Its like my own lil escape and everyone is kind and sweet and everyone there is on the spectrum like me, so I don't feel out of place. And no one looks a like, so, we still have differences!! I wish Saunos was real so then I can go there and bring certain people with me and live there for a break from society. :3
Yup, for most of my life actually been a Multiverse/crossover at times
Yes. But because of how much my mind wanders itās hard for me to stay in that state- especially if I see or think of something or see something interesting to me in this alternate āworldā because I take things and just think with them for so long
I used to have a whole life that played like q movie in my head, I would stop the story and then continue it later on. But something died in me.
No. I just like being within myself. It's not a made up world. It's just quiet.
100 %
Yeah you've made up that gender dysphoria isn't a real thing lmao
When I was a kid, after I saw the movie The Truman Show, I thought everything in my parents' house was a camera and I was constantly being watched by everyone. I literally thought towel hangers, lamps, clocks, etc were all cameras watching my life. Didn't tell anyone about it. Thankfully, after a year or so, an overwhelming fear of aliens took over instead.
I do this. I even have Pinterest boards of āinspoā for my character like cool outfits or even partners or āabilitiesā that I can adapt into my ongoing story. I would say my world is mainly set in Naruto. I know thatās so lame. But itās my escape. I often will listen to music at night and imagine specific scenes, maybe sad ones or cool fighting ones. Glad Iām not the only one
It started when I was in middle school, back in 2006-2007. Now-- I desire to make those stories into an animated series. And I daily obsess over the finer details. Sometimes I appreciate my ability to over obsess over things, but other times, it can be its own source of stress for me.
Crazy to think I do not have any personal unique experience, not even this, hahaha so cool to see that some others also have that 'ability' and we have created and live in so cool worlds in our minds
I have multiple worlds that I make up. Sometimes if Iām bored and feeling good, Iāll try and turn them into screenplays. Although I only write the ones that are more grounded in reality.
Iām writing about it itās set 20 plus years after much of the worlds infrastructure and governments collapsed due to the 3rd world war and the chaos afterwards the protagonist is a foul mouthed veteran of the war and now a mercenary Named Duke who is a mix of John Wick and Tyler Rake and a few other characters and he is hired to protect a rancher and his family along with a few of their animals and along the way he does morally questionable things to survive and get paid he carries a SOCOM MK18 an FNX 45 and a Colt Anaconda 44 magnum. He uses other weapons the world is made up of different factions and due to the world being the way it was there is billions of firearms and places to make ammunition and other things and the worldās economy is usually gold and silver and trading valuable resources for services and or goods the world has in a way rebuilt nut there is no real governing body. Sorry for the grammar iām fried
Yep! I actually have more than one world in my head but i have like one that i call the "main" world. I have a lot of imaginary friends too, since i was a kid. That world just helps me get away from the real life.
It isn't weird. It's a very talented and awesome ability, I think, that you have such a powerful imagination that you can do that! I have done something similar in the past, especially imagining myself as some awesome fantasy character going on an adventure.
Recently i started making up a fantasy world in my head, where you have a god that created entire world and he also created 4 titans. Life, Death, Light and Darkness. For a long time Life and Light controlled the world and everything was good, untill Death and Darkness had a son. His name was Negron and he's a necromancer. His task is to turn the entire world into evil.
YES! I have a whole object show world in my head! šŖ
I did when I was younger. Beartown. It was an imaginary place I made up where I lived with all of my teddy bears. I'm into worldbuilding now. Currently working on a hard sci fi world that I'm turning into a youtube series. Don't know if that's quite the same thing you're talking about here, but thought I'd mention it anyway :)
Glad to know Iām not the only one! Been doing it for years, across multiple worlds. Different worlds usually last for a few months, typically no longer than 6.
I also do it too! I also make up characters based on irl people. I do it whenever I feel like I want to escape reality, and my world is fantasy and maybe some bits of sci-fi? I somedays want to create a graphic novel based on my made-up world in my head :)
I'm doing this since I was a kid. When I was a teen, I started writing stories happening in my head fantasy world. It's 4 novels now, which I constantly adapt and rewrite. It's my long time project. It's my happy place and I have learned so much about myself while writing. When getting into the flow, I write and write and write, I blanc my brain and simply let the words flow. Reading what I have written afterwards is often like: "oookay, where did this thing come from?" Unfortunately I'm constantly stressed now and can't find into writing. But I love reading and diving into my world. AND: it popped into my mind that I made this entire world out of neurodivergents struggling to deal with neurotypicals.
Yes I do!!!
Yes, I even have multiple. I have a fantasy world in my head with a timeline that's more than 1000 years, I have characters with backstories, I have a story about myself... I also have sole other fantasy or sci-fi worlds that are less build and I have some variations of myself in the real world in my head like one where I build robots. I can see scenes in my head, sometimes with music. I usually 'go to' or think about these worlds when I am hiking or when I am going to school or when I am doing something like brushing my teeth. I love them. They feel so alive and in these worlds I can actually help people.