Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional maladaptive daydreaming?

In addition, I just joined a yahoo group for MD, and one of their polls is were you ever identified as gifted. 84% of the people taking the poll said yes....

For years now one of my son's favorite leisure/destress activities has been to twirl a stick while daydreaming. I've always considered it fairly harmless, although antisocial. He is off in a fantasy dream world, and he twirls a big stick while circling, pacing on the lawn. He is a teenager and has become fairly self conscious about this activity and has cut back a lot. Although I'm not sure this has helped because I think it helps his stress level.

But I've never heard of him doing this overly at school, instead he tends to doodle a lot. He has learned when the time & place is for this activity. Although perhaps it's part of his issues with school. He has recently been tested and is not ADHD but is borderline ASD. He is underperforming and tends to get bored a lot in class and not turn things in.

I do this now - I have visceral reactions to my daydreams, I spend a lot of time planning them and banking them up for when DH goes out of town and I can have mental time to myself.
I make myself cry, laugh out loud, pace, gesticulate etc. Fortunately I have control over when and where I do this but I find it to be the most important processing mechanism I have - I have found by analysing my daydreams I've been able to get insight into problems in my life and solve them.

I think something that helps is scheduling daydreaming and if the child is still young enough having a chat about the content afterwards (or encourage a diary later).

Ahhh, yes, my DS seem to start his "creative shocks" very early - at around 3... definitely had been doing it well before 6 years old. His does not seem all that related to his anxiety or anything. In fact the happier and more relaxed he is the more they occur.

Huh! Fascinating!

DS10 always seems happy when he does it too- the problem isn't if you do it necessarily, only if it becomes addictive- which appears to be happening with my son.

I just talked to someone over at John Hopkins again (she is involved with the SMD studies) and she says they have a lot of jumpers/pacers, so now I am wondering if DS10 has SMD, and the adults who have maladaptive daydreaming are just people who have SMD but haven't been able to learn to control it/live with it for whatever reason. I spoke to my brother and he confirmed that he has either SMD or MD but he says it became a great asset as an adult because he was able to design things in his head without having to use paper etc. He does still pace, etc.

The person at John Hopkins said that she knew a lot of adults who had it and have been fine. She did say she was not familiar with MD though.

But it's possible it could be the same condition, just different names.

Hi LAF, just checking in to see how this all is going for you and your child. Wondering if you found out anything new, use any techniques or medicines, etc.

Hi Irena - I did start him on an SSRI for his anxiety and it did reduce the pacing, and it has reduced his OCD symptoms (checking) quite a bit. When I talked to the psych he seemed to think that MD was a symptom and not an actual thing and that's all he said. He also pointed out that MD is something that adults have, and he said children change and develop and may not end up with things adults end up with, and he basically said he would help me figure it out, and that the Internet had a lot of things that may or may not be correct and I would make myself crazy that way (gee, do you think? ;))

DS is still very creative, and seems happier. I think he very likely has tourettes plus, but we are still searching for a definitive answer.

Thanks for checking in!

LAF, my son also has TS (we're starting to see some OCD behaviors, so likely TS+). He also daydreams with pacing, sounds, facial expressions, etc. When he's at home, he tends to verbalize what he's thinking about - he's almost always creating video games in his head.

If you'd ever like to chat or need some support, feel free to message me.