Daydream Believer

Jen and I had a brief conversation last night about daydreaming. I had just taken a "life inventory" assessment, part of which asked how frequently I daydream. I circled the highest number because I daydream constantly.

I know that daydreaming is a big component of ADD, and it's actually the thing that tipped off Jen's psychiatrist to her diagnosis years ago. But I don't have ADD, at least not enough symptoms to merit a diagnosis.

So why daydream so much? Old school psychologists used to think that excessive daydreaming could lead to psychosis, and parents were cautioned not to let their children daydream. Others (like my buddy Freud) thought of it as a self-gratifying attempt at wish fulfillment (i.e. we fantasize about what our lives could be like if we won the lottery). But most people would argue that they daydream to ease boredom, like on a long plane ride or a tedious business meeting.

We all have some sort of fantasy life. So why is daydreaming a tip-off to ADD? At what point does daydreaming start to interfere with a person's ability to function? Who can really quantify a person's inner life?

These are things I've been wondering about instead of going through the pile of bills on the table.

Comments

[CT]

Slippery Slope! Daydreaming becomes a problem when you don't realize you're doing it. Like in the middle of replying to an e-mail at work... Someone "interrupts" to ask a question. You answer them, then go back to your email reply, all 5 words you actually wrote, then you look at the time stamp of your relpy... 15 minutes ago? Yes, once again, you clocked out and went off to daydream land, in the dead middle of doing a short, simple productive task.

This was indeed one of the (many) things that finally got me to catch a clue on my ADD and, eventually, see a pshych.

The good side to being a daydreamer? Scenarios and event modeling. The same ability to imagine vividly how a series of events might happen, when applied consciously to, say, union contract negotiations or a new product launch plan, can be a powerful and unique ability.

Bottom line: off the leash, daydreaming can become a bad, bad thing. Used purposefully, wow, what a cool skill!