Distinguishing Maladaptive From Immersive Daydreaming in Natural Language: Evidence From Reddit Communities

Daydreaming spans adaptive immersion and dysregulated, impairing engagement, and distinguishing immersive daydreaming (ID) from maladaptive daydreaming (MD) may clarify when intense imagination is associated with well-being versus distress. Using a large naturalistic Reddit corpus, we compared language in r/ImmersiveDaydreaming (n = 3,125) and r/MaladaptiveDreaming (n = 9,922) with respect to topics and affective tone (valence). We fit an LDA model (k = 260) and tested topic–subreddit associations using logistic regression with false discovery rate (FDR) control; we also estimated post valence using a pretrained language-based model. Of the 260 shared topics identified, 64 appeared significantly more often in ID discourse, and 82 in MD discourse. ID discourse emphasized community interaction, narrative construction, creativity, characters, and media catalysts. In contrast, MD discourse emphasized negative emotion, functional impairment, control difficulties, trauma and comorbidity, recovery efforts, external triggers, and pacing or other nonverbal behaviors. MD posts showed significantly lower valence than ID posts (p < .001; d = 0.70), indicating a more negative emotional tone. These findings suggest that distinctions between ID and MD, as articulated in online discourse, are reflected more strongly in affective tone, control, and functional orientation than in fantasy content per se.