Maladaptive Daydreaming in an Adult Italian Population During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

During the COVID-19 outbreak, individuals with or without mental disorders may resort to dysfunctional psychological strategies that could trigger or heighten their emotional distress. The current study aims to explore the links between maladaptive daydreaming (MD, i.e., a compulsive fantasy activity associated with distress and psychological impairment), psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety, and negative stress, and COVID-19-related variables, such as changes in face-to-face and online relationships, during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. A total of 6,277 Italian adults completed an online survey, including socio-demographic variables, COVID-19 related information, the 16-item Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16), and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21 Items (DASS-21). Based on an empirically derived cut-off score, 1,082 participants (17.2%) were identified as probable maladaptive daydreamers (MDers). A binary logistic regression revealed 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.

Maladaptive Daydreaming in Relation to Linguistic Features and Attachment Style

“…Younger people reported a greater presence of daydreams. This finding is in line with the literature [ 52 , 53 ] and with the evidence that young people are increasingly aware of the phenomenon of maladaptive daydreaming. Given that it is often a self-diagnosed phenomenon, it may be that young people are more likely to notice and report, and willing to share, their experiences of it.…”

Dreaming during lockdown: a quali-quantitative analysis of the Italian population dreams during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave

“…This work is part of a larger multicentre research project, coordinated by the University of Parma, entitled 'Resilience during the time of COVID-19: how to react to perceived stress?'. The project was started in March 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and aims to investigate, through a prospective design with a 6-month follow-up, the ways in which people cope with stress related to lockdown and the immediate and longterm effects on sleep quality, psychological distress, resilience, and dream activity (such as daydreaming and night dreaming) (for more details please refer Franceschini et al, 2020;Lenzo et al, 2020;Scarpelli et al, 2021;Musetti et al, 2021). The research project was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Messina.…”

The Relationship Between Resilience and Sleep Quality During the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study

“…During the most critical phase of the pandemic, people who experienced anxiety and depression are more likely to be absorbed in an inner fantasy world, which in turn may increase their emotional distress. 8 Nonetheless, these were not the only forms of psychological symptoms Italian people experienced. A study involving a large sample of subjects has found that more than half of them reported poor sleep quality including sleep disturbance, awakening with shortness of breath or with headache, sleep inadequacy, and somnolence.…”