When Daydreaming Becomes a Problem

The Wall Street Journal:

Can daydreaming become extreme to the point where it impacts daily functioning?

It is a controversial notion, but Eli Somer, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Haifa in Israel, believes extreme daydreaming—when individuals immerse themselves in vivid alternative universes which they prefer to reality—should be considered a mental disorder with a clinical diagnosis and treatment options.

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Eric Klinger, a professor emeritus in the psychology discipline at the University of Minnesota, Morris, doesn’t believe there is currently enough evidence suggesting that maladaptive daydreaming should be its own separate mental condition. “I’m very reluctant to create a category for a mind-wandering disturbance,” he said. “Once you start psychopathologizing these things you can get yourself in trouble, because often normal mechanisms account for this.”

Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal