Published Jun 01, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 01, 2026 | 7:00 AM
Maladaptive daydreaming is not currently recognised as an official disorder.
Synopsis: Maladaptive daydreaming is a little-known psychological phenomenon in which vivid inner worlds become so absorbing that they begin to interfere with daily life. For some people, these imagined worlds provide relief from loneliness, trauma and anxiety, but can also disrupt relationships, work and study. Although researchers estimate that around 1 in 40 people experience it, the condition exists in a clinical grey area.
Every night, Sujitha, a 19-year-old commerce student, writes a to-do list for the next day. She looks forward to waking up. But when she does, she begins pacing her room, talking animatedly to Sridevi, the late Bollywood actress.
They have never met. Sujitha has only seen her on screen. Yet for four years, Sridevi has been a constant companion.
“It’s not essentially dangerous. I like Sridevi. The fear comes from the fact that none of it is real, and that I still indulge in it,” Sujitha told South First.
For years, Sujitha did not have a name for what she was doing. When she described spending hours immersed in elaborate fictional worlds, people laughed.
Most people daydream. They drift during meetings, rehearse conversations, imagine future scenarios. That is ordinary cognition.
Maladaptive daydreaming is something different. It is not a passing drift but a compulsion, a pull towards an inner world so vivid and consuming that it begins to displace the outer one. The distinction lies not in the act of imagining, but in what that imagining costs.
Dr Raghuveer Raju Boosa, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health, Hyderabad, describes it through an analogy.
“Think of it like virtual reality. Instead of a headset showing you everything, your brain does,” he told South First.
He said that the person remains conscious, with their eyes open or closed, yet inhabits an elaborate inner world for hours. They choose to enter it, but find it increasingly difficult to leave.
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The phenomenon was first identified in 2002 by Professor Eli Somer, a clinical psychologist at the University of Haifa, Israel, in his paper Maladaptive Daydreaming: A Qualitative Inquiry.
Somer characterised it as an addiction to vivid, emotionally intense narratives, often accompanied by repetitive physical movements, that interfere with daily functioning.
Research by Somer and psychologist Nirit Soffer-Dudek, published in Maladaptive Daydreaming: Epidemiological Data on a Newly Identified Syndrome, estimates that roughly 1 in 40 people experience it.
In India, prevalence appears to mirror global estimates, at around 2.5 percent.
Dr Raghuveer notes that maladaptive daydreaming is not currently recognised as an official disorder in either the ICD-10 or the DSM-5. However, he believes that as evidence accumulates, it could eventually be included in diagnostic manuals.
The ICD-10, or the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, is a global medical classification system developed by the World Health Organization. It standardises the diagnosis and coding of diseases, mental health conditions, injuries and causes of death.
The DSM-5, short for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, is published by the American Psychiatric Association and serves as a key reference for diagnosing mental health conditions.
What separates maladaptive daydreaming from ordinary imagination is partly the content, partly the duration, and partly the ritual that precedes it.
Most maladaptive daydreamers do not simply drift into their inner worlds. They construct conditions that make immersion possible. Music often plays a central role. So does movement. Pacing, hand movements and repetitive gestures function almost as induction rituals, guiding the brain towards a state where the daydream can take hold.
Sumadhi, a college student, describes walking through Coles Park for hours while listening to a single song on repeat, slipping into an imagined world with no fixed narrative.
“If there are people around me, or if I do not have access to music, I manage to stave off the need,” she told South First.
The interruption breaks the ritual. Without it, the daydream becomes harder to sustain.
Dr Raghuveer describes patients who slowly massage their hands, adopt meditative postures or repeat movements in sync with music. The deliberateness is significant. This is not distraction. It is preparation.
The worlds people enter tend to be highly specific, populated by celebrities, idealised versions of themselves, or fictional characters developed over years of inner storytelling. For many, the inner world holds more texture than the outer one.
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The people who inhabit these worlds do not describe them as purely destructive. Most speak of them as both refuge and trap.
A study titled Maladaptive Daydreaming Among Indian Youth, published in the International Journal of Indian Psychology, examined the prevalence and effects of maladaptive daydreaming among young people in India.
One participant described the appeal plainly: “It works as a getaway from daily stress. It definitely adds joy and entertainment.”
Another described how that relief can turn on itself. “I was stressed, so I daydreamed. After that I was even more stressed. It was like a vicious cycle I fell into.”
Iris, an artist, built an entire creative world through maladaptive daydreaming. She also found herself withdrawing from the real one.
“I don’t remember the last time I spoke to another person the way I do with the characters in my head. They understand me better,” she told South First.
The inner world becomes more responsive, more available and often more satisfying than the outer one. It offers what reality withholds. And precisely because it does, it becomes harder to leave.
Dr Raghuveer does not view maladaptive daydreaming as an isolated behaviour. He sees it as a signal.
People begin maladaptive daydreaming for recognisable reasons: loneliness, trauma, social anxiety, or an inability to form meaningful connections. The daydream fills a gap. Over time, it widens the very gap it was meant to fill.
“It is very akin to addiction,” he says. “Like alcohol, with the first two drinks you are in control. After that, you don’t remember what to do.”
What concerns him more is what the daydreaming conceals. Many maladaptive daydreamers, when assessed, also experience underlying depression or anxiety. The daydream functions as a form of self-medication, numbing distress without addressing it.
Dr Pragya Rashmi, a senior psychologist at Yashoda Hospital, identifies the phenomenon across several populations, including adolescents, people with trauma histories and those who use substances.
“When it becomes excessive and stops being adaptive, it becomes a sign of poor mental health,” she told South First.
The overlap with other conditions further complicates diagnosis. Maladaptive daydreaming shares features with dissociative disorders, ADHD-related inattention and trauma-based coping mechanisms. Research suggests that prevalence among people with ADHD may be as high as 20 percent. The relationship, however, runs in only one direction: ADHD increases the likelihood of maladaptive daydreaming, but maladaptive daydreaming does not necessarily indicate ADHD.
That symptomatic overlap is one reason formal clinical recognition has remained elusive.
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Maladaptive daydreaming currently exists in a clinical grey zone. Most diagnostic tools rely on self-report questionnaires, which can introduce bias and are difficult to verify independently. The Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale-16, the most widely used measure, was developed for non-Indian populations, limiting how accurately it may capture the condition across different cultural contexts.
Professor Somer has argued that sufficient evidence now exists to support formal recognition of maladaptive daydreaming as a distinct disorder, one that cannot be fully explained by existing psychiatric diagnoses.
Dr Raghuveer agrees that recognition may come, but only as evidence accumulates. Until then, clinicians treat the surrounding conditions, depression, anxiety and dissociation, without a formal diagnostic category for the behaviour itself.
That gap has consequences. Without a diagnosis, there is no standardised treatment pathway. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has shown promise. Mindfulness-based approaches help some people. Identifying and addressing underlying triggers appears to produce the most consistent results.
But none of these interventions can reach people who cannot name what they are experiencing when they seek help.
