People who experienced emotional abuse in childhood may be significantly more likely to develop a condition known as maladaptive daydreaming, particularly when they also live with obsessive-compulsive disorder. New research sheds light on the psychological pathways that connect early trauma to this poorly understood but increasingly recognised condition, offering important clues for how it might be treated.
Maladaptive daydreaming is characterised by excessive, immersive fantasy that interferes with everyday life, relationships, and responsibilities. Unlike ordinary mind-wandering, it can take on compulsive qualities, drawing individuals into elaborate imagined worlds as a way of escaping psychological distress.
The study, conducted in Iran and published in the European Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, involved 300 adults diagnosed with OCD. Researchers found that those who engaged in maladaptive daydreaming reported significantly higher levels of childhood emotional abuse, trauma-related emotions such as shame, anger, and sadness, dissociative experiences, and a psychological concept known as the “feared self”.
The feared self refers to a person’s deep-seated anxiety about who they might be or become. Researchers found this construct played a central role in linking early emotional abuse to maladaptive daydreaming, often working in combination with dissociation, a disruption in consciousness and self-awareness that many trauma survivors experience.
Crucially, the study found that the connection between childhood emotional abuse and maladaptive daydreaming was not direct. Instead, it operated through a chain of psychological processes. Emotional abuse appeared to shape a person’s self-concept in damaging ways, fostering a feared sense of self that then contributed to dissociation and, ultimately, to compulsive fantasy.
The research also identified a second pathway involving trauma-related emotions. Feelings of shame, anxiety, and sadness connected to past abuse were associated with heightened OCD symptoms and negative beliefs about thought control, both of which contributed to dissociation and, in turn, to maladaptive daydreaming. This suggests that the emotional residue of past trauma may be just as important as the abuse itself in driving these psychological outcomes.
Dissociation emerged as particularly significant in the model, accounting for a large share of the variation in maladaptive daydreaming. The researchers suggest that individuals may retreat into fantasy as a way of regulating overwhelming emotions and distancing themselves from painful realities rooted in childhood experiences.
The findings carry meaningful clinical implications. Therapists working with OCD patients who also show signs of excessive daydreaming or dissociation may benefit from exploring early trauma histories and the emotions associated with them. Addressing distorted self-perceptions, fostering self-compassion, and targeting unhelpful beliefs about thought control may all help reduce reliance on fantasy as a coping mechanism.
While the cross-sectional design of the study means causal conclusions cannot be drawn, it represents the first investigation of maladaptive daydreaming in a clinical OCD sample and opens an important avenue for future research.