Swiss psychologist Jan Gysi has published a book titled Diagnostik von Traumafolgestörungen (Diagnosis of trauma-related disorders). The book features maladaptive daydreaming. The reference is for this section in the book is: Jan Gysi (2020). Maladaptive Tagträumen, In Diagnostik von Traumafolgestörungen: Multiaxiales Trauma-Dissoziations-Modell nach ICD-11. Bern, Switzerland: Hogrefe, p.271 (in German).
The Hungarian members of ICMDR Alexandra Sándor and Judith Molnar coauthored a study on attachment characteristics and emotion regulation among MDers. They found that maladaptive daydreamers displayed ‘Ambivalent-fearful’ attachment characteristics, while normal daydreamers showed ‘a Secure-independent’ attachment style. Maladaptive daydreamers showed a significantly higher level of the deficit on each subscale of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale compared to normal daydreamers. The findings highlighted the potential role of early attachment experiences in the etiology and pathogenesis of maladaptive daydreaming, as well as the presence of severe emotion regulation deficits among problematic daydreamers. Here is the reference and the link to the paper: Sándor, A., Bugán, A., Nagy, A., Bogdán, L.S., & Molnár, J. (2021). Attachment characteristics and emotion regulation difficulties among maladaptive and normal daydreamers. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01546-5
A group of Italian researchers has surveyed 6,277 Italian respondents during the violent first Covid-19 breakout in Italy and found that compared to controls, probable MDers reported that during the COVID-19 lockdown they experienced higher levels of anxiety and depression, decreased online social relationships, and, surprisingly, stable or increased face-to-face social relationships.
Given the peculiar characteristics of the pandemic context, these findings suggest that the exposure to the risk of contagion had probably exacerbated the tendency of probable MDers to lock themselves inside their mental fantasy worlds, which in turn may have contributed to further estrangement from online social relationships and support, thus worsening their emotional distress.
Here is the reference and the link to the paper: Musetti, A., Franceschini, C., Pingani, L., Freda, M.F., Saita, EW., Vegni, E., Zenesini, C., Quattropani, M.C., Lenzo, V., Margherita, G., Lemmo, D., Corsano, P., Borghi, L., Cattivelli, R., Plazzi, G., Castelnuovo, G., Somer, E., Schimmenti A. (2021). Maladaptive daydreaming in an adult Italian population during the COVID-19 lockdown. Frontiers in Psychology 12, Article 631979. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631979.
The Dark Side of Daydreams is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation podcast (29min 5sec). Synopsis: For two decades of Hannah Byford’s life, she kept a secret. When things at home got too much to bear, she’d retreat to an imagined life, inside her head — an elaborate daydream. As a child, Hannah would spend hours a day in these intricate dreams, building entire new worlds. And by her early 20s, she was spending up to seven hours a day deep in her daydreams. On All in the Mind this week, when daydreams turn dark and the unusual disorder that is 'maladaptive daydreaming.' In addition to Hannah Byford (Nurse, UCLA), the program features our very own Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek (in the photo) from Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Click here to listen.
And lastly, we have just discovered that there is a Russian equivalent to Facebook and that it features a Russian Maladaptive Daydreaming (Навязчивые фантазии ) community. Check it out.