Reddit suicide girls blinkk suicide9/15/2023 Intrusive thoughts can look like daydreaming, tooĭo you ever have unwanted, distressing thoughts? These are known as intrusive thoughts. Of course, daydreaming about sad situations or imagining arguments playing out in your head doesn’t necessarily mean you have a mood disorder. “However, in order to feel better, it is often best to face this pain and distress head-on.” It is your brain’s way of protecting you from the distress and pain, and this is significant,” she says. “Escapism isn’t inherently ‘bad,’ but it can lead to avoidance and the worsening of stress and anxiety. People who are particularly stressed can also use daydreaming as a tool for escapism, Volinsky explains. The problem with daydreaming in this situation is that you can make yourself even more anxious and upset - even about things that haven’t happened or might never happen. This can make it even harder to concentrate on day-to-day tasks. “With depression, daydreaming can emerge as more of a listless and mindless wandering of the brain where there is a lack of motivation to stay focused,” Cook explains. I often imagine having horrible arguments with people in my own head (which seems to be a surprisingly common thing, according to the internet), or I imagine that I’ll be hit by a car when I’m trying to cross a road.Īnd when it comes to depression, you might overthink or daydream about depressing situations. When my anxiety is high, for example, I overthink and imagine awful situations. You might find yourself continuously visualizing the presentation and worrying about all of the things that may go wrong,” Volinsky says. “Let’s say you have a presentation at work in a week. If you have anxiety, you might daydream about the worst possible scenario. Someone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for example, might struggle to concentrate on day-to-day tasks. The way it turns up, and the reason why we daydream, depends on our mental state and situation. How daydreaming can be a symptom of mental illnessĭaydreaming is different for everyone. This is why it’s important to know how symptoms of mental illness can show up in our daydreaming. “It’s normal for everyone to daydream from time to time, but it becomes problematic when one is not able to follow instructions or pay attention when required,” she adds.īecause there’s no hard-and-fast, universal definition of daydreaming, it’s hard to tell when our daydreams become something more sinister. “Daydreaming can be an indication that someone is suffering from concentration difficulty, which is seen in many mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” says Lauren Cook, a therapist and author based in San Diego. If you think about it, most mental illnesses involve problematic thought patterns that we struggle to control - and that can involve your imagination getting away from you. “Daydreaming is incredibly normal, but excessive daydreaming can be a symptom of a larger problem,” says Mollie Volinksy, a licensed clinical social worker who provides trauma-informed psychotherapy. The tricky thing about daydreaming is that it can be fun, harmless, and sometimes beneficial - but at other times, it isn’t. In other words, you can stop doing it if you tried. Most of the time, we think of daydreaming as something that’s voluntary. It could include replaying memories over and over in your head, thinking about your goals or interests, or imagining an unlikely or likely future scenario. Usually, when we think of daydreaming, we think about imagining something. I’d spend a long time daydreaming, overthinking, and ruminating about things that upset me. I started thinking about upsetting hypothetical situations and struggled to control my thoughts. Like many children, I loved playing pretend, using my imagination, and immersing myself into fantastical worlds.īut when my mental health started playing up, my daydreams took a dark turn. Share on Pinterest Illustration by Brittany England
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