Wandering of thoughts, fantasies and daydreams are part of the inner world of almost everyone, and they are depicted in popular culture - in literature and film, for example. However, until now science has not addressed the pathological aspects of this, otherwise normal mental activity. A series of new studies published recently in several leading journals in psychology and psychiatry shed light on a psychological disorder that was not known until now. The story begins in 2002, when Prof. Somer was treating adults who had been sexually abused as children. Somer identified six survivors who used to escape regularly into a world of the imagination, where they fantasized compensatory empowering stories in which they enjoyed traits and life experiences that were missing in their real lives. Professor Somer named the phenomenon "maladaptive daydreaming" (MD) but at the time did not continue his investigation of the phenomenon. This article was followed in 2011 by a study by Jayne Bigelsen and Cynthia Schupak of 90 people who complained of excessive daydreaming. Their study that showed that MD is also spread among many individuals who have not had adverse childhoods. In the wake of these two studies, Somer and Bigelsen began to receive communications from countless individuals from around the world who related to them how they had suffered from exactly the same phenomenon asking for their advise and help.
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A new psychological disorder has been identified in a series of recently published studies - Maladaptive Maydreaming (MD). Researchers from the University of Haifa, in Israel, Fordham University in New York City and University of Lausanne, Switzerland, have found that people with the disorder spend an average of 60% of their waking time in an imaginary world which they themselves have created, realizing that it is a fantasy, and without losing contact with the real world. "Daydreaming usually starts as a small fantasy that makes people feel good, but over time the process becomes addictive until it takes over their lives. At this stage the disorder is accompanied by feelings of shame and a sense of lack of fulfillment, but because till now the disorder has been unknown, when they come to receive treatment, therapists usually dismissed their complaints," explains Professor Eli Somer of the University of Haifa, one of the researchers and the first to identify the disorder.