maladaptive daydreaming

[YBtheOutlaw]

i've heard most children who go through stressful situations find their own little coping mechanism to walk through them. since undiscovered transgendered children are in a similar position, do we as kids come up with some mechanism or other?
i thought of this because it turns out that i probably have this condition called maladaptive daydreaming disorder.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maladaptive_daydreaming i have all the symptoms they say, but it says children who undergo trauma or abuse are more likely to fall into this. but i haven't had such experience, well none that i can remember, so it lead me into thinking, did the stress of being treated as the wrong gender push me into this? i should say i didn't show any obvious signs of being transgender before puberty (that too as far as i can remember) so was i suppressing all those feelings and turn to maladaptive daydreaming to escape the horrible reality? i started daydreaming way before puberty, in fact i don't know when it started or what triggered it. so it just leaves me thinking, was daydreaming my coping mechanism?
i still daydream, A LOT! anybody with similar experience? or am i being too quick to self diagnose like that?

[SlateRDays]

I actually still do this to be honest. No one really knows about it, because I keep silent about it. For me it's very complicated, or more compounded. The first is because I act out my male role, the second is because I've never have a girlfriend in the natural world I always create one to play with or pretend I'm with someone I really wish I could be with. I live my daily life like this. When I'm done interacting with others and really to take off my mask I have time with myself. It's usually sexual, maybe I'm pretending I'm saving someone, or I act out what I see other couples go through with arguments and what not. I'm aware it isn't real. I can't really touch these people or items, but the mind is a powerful tool and it can sometimes feel very real.

I've had to become more conscious of where I do this as I've injured myself before. Pretending you're fighting isn't a smart move with you've got a lot of concrete edges near you lol. It's also triggered by the abuse I've had to suffer. It's an activity I can control, and like my dreams I like to just enjoy it. No one can take that from me. I'm thankful for that.

Is it healthy? I couldn't give you a set answer for that. All I know is if everything went wrong in my life, I never got a girlfriend ever, or just wanted to live alone, I would more than likely continue it. I can got back to "normal" for the rest of the world, but behind closed doors I control the rest.

[JenSquid]

I don't know if it's maladaptive, but I certainly spend a lot of time daydreaming, and have for years. Although it's certainly a creative outlet, I think it probably doubled as a coping mechanism for years.

[MiaOhMya!]

I'd never heard of this until now, but it sounds pretty interesting actually. Does this happen when the person is busy, or only when they have downtime? Do people "out-grow" this, or will it still be present when one is 80 years old?

It sounds like creativity just focused in the wrong direction, but what do I know.

[BeefxCake]

I can relate to this. My daydreaming is more like wandering vivid thoughts and then i catch myself spacing, but the idea of creating something fictional to cope is something i do. See i roleplay a lot with many different people and i always use the same sort of persona. He is male and shares so many likenesses with me that i didnt even intend. And as i rp with him im not thinking about my dysphoria, im living the moment as him writing in first person and i get this feeling of escape from having to be female.

When i go even a couple hours without rping though i get the thoughts back, how badly i wish to have a male body like i did hours ago in rp.