self deserting fantasy/maladaptive daydreaming. Fine line?

Quests wrote:After reading the site, I think my form is more self deserting AvPD then full on maladaptive daydreaming. Although it can certainly fall into the other category just as easily. When I am around people or in public I do not daydream much if at all, as my mind is constantly focus on how others are perceiving me. It is when I am in my house or I am alone for an extended period of time that the excessive daydreaming starts. I am not medically diagnosis with AvPD, but I think my avoidant behavior led me to recluse, which started the excessive daydreaming to make up for lost real world connections. If that makes sense.

Man, did I write this? Could just have been..
Sorry for not having anything to add to this thread atm.. mainly because writing about stuff like this in English is a challenge.
(in my own language as well by the way )

Just want to say that after 42 year of major misery and thinking I'm the only person in the universe with my "bunch of disorders" (often thought of myself as some sort of freak) reading posts like this is a major eye opener. I feel I should be glad but I can't help crying..

Thanks folks.

Hey Dude
I just registered to this forum just to answer you. I suffer from Avpd self deserting subtype, Sluggish Cognitive Tempo/Concentration Deficit Disorder AND Maladaptive Daydreaming. I nearly spend my whole spare time with daydreaming and I clearly do think there is a connection between MD and Avpd.
I'd also like to ask if you can also relate to the criteria of SCT? I often feel trapped between the different symptoms that evolve from each of this disorders and my functioning level is very low.
Sry If my answer is a little chaotic... :/
But I would be really glad if you reply so that we can converse with each other. =)

Kivulitaronyu wrote:Hey Dude
I just registered to this forum just to answer you. I suffer from Avpd self deserting subtype, Sluggish Cognitive Tempo/Concentration Deficit Disorder AND Maladaptive Daydreaming. I nearly spend my whole spare time with daydreaming and I clearly do think there is a connection between MD and Avpd.
I'd also like to ask if you can also relate to the criteria of SCT? I often feel trapped between the different symptoms that evolve from each of this disorders and my functioning level is very low.
Sry If my answer is a little chaotic... :/
But I would be really glad if you reply so that we can converse with each other. =)

I wouldn't say that there is a link between Self-deserting subtype and maladaptive daydreaming. I am a hypersensitive subtype, but I still use maladaptive daydreaming as a my coping mechanism quite a lot. Now that I realized that this copying mechanisms has led me to a major depression, I stopped using it, since my brain associates it with some bad consequences. Yet, some dosage of daydreaming is not bad, as long as it is not maladaptive. I must say that I am now the opposite to what I was before, but that doesn't make me any happier tbh.

Just to add something, I think that maladaptive daydreaming is a feature characteristic for all avoidants, and it's not subtype related. But I do think that what you call slugish cognitive tempo, or what you can call attention deficit disorder may be more related to your subtype. I would say that for my hypersenisitive type that would be rather attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I don't think that I have ADHD, but I do have certain features, i.e. I move a lot, sometimes talk fast. This also realted to anxiety I think.

My idea is that we can have features of some other disorders too, but in fact there are misleading and we may get misdiagnosed. I seem ADHD or borderline, but in fact I am just a hypersensitive AvPD.

Wow, I had no idea this was related to AvPD. I've been doing this literally my entire life. Since I was a very young kid, as far back as I can remember. I have always had very elaborate fantasies that I would escape to for hours and hours per day. I would pick up wherever I left off the previous day and take it from there. Like an endless movie playing in my head. It was definitely a coping mechanism to deal with all the trauma in my life. I still do it but in the last few years, I found it has tapered off a lot.

redhorse, how are you doing? I don't know if you will get this message. I was searching about avpd the self-deserting kind. I can really relate to this! But i assume my desire to escape myself is due to my undiagnosed and incredibly embarrassing and emotionally painful case of ADHD. My mind is totally hyper and constantly running. my creativity is so high, it's running over, spilling over to just random creative thoughts. I get whole lines or paragraphs of really wonderful creative writing that just spills over in my mind. But when i go to write the words down, they slip away. It's a very frustrating experience. it's MUCH easier for me to just go with the flow and consider this just my inner life and fantasies and ideas, without attempting to harness it and create a cohesive work of art. So for me, the horror is being out of control. The root for me is definitely ADHD but I am awaiting my evaluation still (coming in late May! yay)

It's fascinating to me how conditions and disorders can overlap! You can have multiple disorders, with some symptoms in common, but having the distinct separate diagnosis' or you can have one condition with a misdiagnosis or over emphasis I suppose on something else. Anyhow, i think it's good we have the internet to research all the various things and, in my case, prepare for a really good (I HOPE) evaluation!

Well, I came across this thread after searching Google for more information related to Millon's AvPD subtypes, specifically the self-abnegating kind.

I think I'm a cross between the self-abnegating and the conflicted. I do daydream, probably more than healthy people who have more satisfying lives, but actually I don't like it when I find myself imagining "what if?" scenarios. Especially if they include real people, like friends, acquaintances, colleagues, etc. because I tell myself that's creepy and it makes me feel like a loser.

Sometimes I get lost in thought in public. I laugh to myself. I talk to myself or mouth words to myself. I hate it everytime it happens. It's a compulsion. When I'm under stress, this is one way I cope. I spent years of my life looking more like the Conflicted avoidant. More just tense, shy. Whatever. Now I look a little like I'm on drugs. That's the bad part. It's problematic and alienating, but being constantly simmering in restraint and self righteous bitterness isn't a pleasant alternative. It served me more while I was in school.

I do daydream, probably more than healthy people who have more satisfying lives, but actually I don't like it when I find myself imagining "what if?" scenarios. Especially if they include real people, like friends, acquaintances, colleagues, etc. because I tell myself that's creepy and it makes me feel like a loser.

i relate with that.if i don't feel wanted it grosses me out to think of others.i think is some king of ego where i have to reject others before they reject me to the point that the opposite grosses me out.
when i was younger i had often senarios in my head /stories,kind of daydreaming but not maladaptive .i don't understand why i lost it and i can't really do it anymore like i used to

julllia wrote:

I do daydream, probably more than healthy people who have more satisfying lives, but actually I don't like it when I find myself imagining "what if?" scenarios. Especially if they include real people, like friends, acquaintances, colleagues, etc. because I tell myself that's creepy and it makes me feel like a loser.

i relate with that.if i don't feel wanted it grosses me out to think of others.i think is some king of ego where i have to reject others before they reject me to the point that the opposite grosses me out.
when i was younger i had often senarios in my head /stories,kind of daydreaming but not maladaptive .i don't understand why i lost it and i can't really do it anymore like i used to

Yeah that's a big part of it for me too, the not wanting to need people and rejecting others before they can reject me.

That's interesting you can't revert back to daydreaming. For me it's something I more actively suppress.