This chapter discusses maladaptive daydreaming, a condition where individuals spend a significant amount of time living inside their heads, which becomes a debilitating disorder. It explores how daydreaming can be a coping mechanism that carries on from childhood into adulthood, affecting their ability to deal with reality. The chapter also highlights the negative impacts of maladaptive daydreaming on social relationships and work.
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.