Hi, I have always had a major propensity to daydream. Ever since I was little, I would always invent characters and play out their fictitious lives in my head. I would often fantasize about being a girl (i am a guy), so the characters usually had a lot of overlap to my own life, so they felt "realistic" in a sense, but a few enhancements. I always preferred to daydream than do other things like read or even watch TV. I figured I would just daydream because I was bored. Or because my ability to "express" myself, was "repressed." Well, as I got older and escaped all the things repressing me, or so i thought, i still realize that i still like to withdraw into fantasy world, even if i have a lot of invitations or options to do seemingly fun things. I feel like maybe this is a pattern connected with ADHD (or OCD, I have been diagnosed as slightly OCD, whatever that means). So basically, I used to think I just daydreamed when bored or stressed, but now I feel like there may just be a distinct pattern with how my brain works that just gravitates toward this fantasy, daydream, default state.

I frankly do not like it because it makes it difficult to relate to people since I don't see so concerned with the real or outside world, as much as my fantasy land. I feel like if something happens in the outside world that doesn't have to do with my real life but rather my fantasy world stimulates me more than stuff from my real life. Say, I get a bad grade on a test, but I'm not as sad as I am when the sports team I fantasize about being on loses a game. I used to spend hours just writing about my fake life or fictitious characters. The thing is, it wasn't even like good literature, I would just like mechanically list details and details, and then revise it when i wanted to change something.

Anybody have similar experiences? Im really curious. Im just realizing that its not just a "coping mechanism" or "escapism" for stress or boredem, its an activity that I resort to even when I have a lot of things going on in my real life that could be fun and stimulating!

Hi, I have always had a major propensity to daydream. Ever since I was little, I would always invent characters and play out their fictitious lives in my head. I would often fantasize about being a girl (i am a guy), so the characters usually had a lot of overlap to my own life, so they felt "realistic" in a sense, but a few enhancements. I always preferred to daydream than do other things like read or even watch TV. I figured I would just daydream because I was bored. Or because my ability to "express" myself, was "repressed." Well, as I got older and escaped all the things repressing me, or so i thought, i still realize that i still like to withdraw into fantasy world, even if i have a lot of invitations or options to do seemingly fun things. I feel like maybe this is a pattern connected with ADHD (or OCD, I have been diagnosed as slightly OCD, whatever that means). So basically, I used to think I just daydreamed when bored or stressed, but now I feel like there may just be a distinct pattern with how my brain works that just gravitates toward this fantasy, daydream, default state.

I frankly do not like it because it makes it difficult to relate to people since I don't see so concerned with the real or outside world, as much as my fantasy land. I feel like if something happens in the outside world that doesn't have to do with my real life but rather my fantasy world stimulates me more than stuff from my real life. Say, I get a bad grade on a test, but I'm not as sad as I am when the sports team I fantasize about being on loses a game. I used to spend hours just writing about my fake life or fictitious characters. The thing is, it wasn't even like good literature, I would just like mechanically list details and details, and then revise it when i wanted to change something.

Anybody have similar experiences? Im really curious. Im just realizing that its not just a "coping mechanism" or "escapism" for stress or boredem, its an activity that I resort to even when I have a lot of things going on in my real life that could be fun and stimulating!

Sounds like typical ADHD-PI to me

You should visit a psychiatrist soon

Please check this thread:
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55221

It should be quite informative for you, as you seem to be new to the ADHD-PI/SCT debates.

Please check this thread:
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55221

It should be quite informative for you, as you seem to be new to the ADHD-PI/SCT debates.

Was your post directed at me or the OP? :confused:

Was your post directed at me or the OP? :confused:

I meant the OP, sorry

I tend to do a lot of daydreaming as well. Or maybe it is a highly sophisticated simulation going on inside my head.
In my case the amount of daydreaming is inversely proportional to the amount of interest my real life can generate. If something important or interesting is going on I am usually quite capable of participating, but as soon as boredom sets in again so does the imagination. The daydreaming does not normally get in my way.

thanks for the replies. I will have to look into those links. But honestly, I don't see how ADHD-PI directly transposes onto my daydreaming anecdotes? Granted I really just skimmed a few sentences since I am about to go to bed (it's very late here). Maybe when I read more in depth I will see the connection.

I can tell you that I daydream a lot! Many things you mentioned resonate for me. I used to get into trouble in elementary school for "constant daydreaming".

It bugs me a lot that I cannot "escape" into a daydream when I will it to be so. Some days I would love to be lost in one, but cannot. When I need to focus....uh-oh, here comes the fantasy.....:o

Daydreaming is certainly a component of ADHD, but it can be found in other diagnoses as well. The OCD part could be, IMO, if you consistently re-lve daydreams in your head, or re-act real life scenes internally and change aspects to change the outcome. I don't mean to diagnose, but I think that doing either could be seen as OCD behaviors. If that is all the docs look at, it might lead to an OCD diagnosis. If taken in context with other issues, it could be seen as part of ADHD.

I have not read the links yet at all, but to the OP, I would be very interested to hear what you think once you do read them completely.

I daydream A LOT to the point where it is ridiculous. After a while I will forget that what I was daydreaming about, never really happened. I'd say it's adhd for sure. I don't know of any other disorders that have excessive daydreaming.

Hi, I have always had a major propensity to daydream. Ever since I was little, I would always invent characters and play out their fictitious lives in my head. I would often fantasize about being a girl (i am a guy), so the characters usually had a lot of overlap to my own life, so they felt "realistic" in a sense, but a few enhancements. I always preferred to daydream than do other things like read or even watch TV. I figured I would just daydream because I was bored. Or because my ability to "express" myself, was "repressed." Well, as I got older and escaped all the things repressing me, or so i thought, i still realize that i still like to withdraw into fantasy world, even if i have a lot of invitations or options to do seemingly fun things. I feel like maybe this is a pattern connected with ADHD (or OCD, I have been diagnosed as slightly OCD, whatever that means). So basically, I used to think I just daydreamed when bored or stressed, but now I feel like there may just be a distinct pattern with how my brain works that just gravitates toward this fantasy, daydream, default state.

I frankly do not like it because it makes it difficult to relate to people since I don't see so concerned with the real or outside world, as much as my fantasy land. I feel like if something happens in the outside world that doesn't have to do with my real life but rather my fantasy world stimulates me more than stuff from my real life. Say, I get a bad grade on a test, but I'm not as sad as I am when the sports team I fantasize about being on loses a game. I used to spend hours just writing about my fake life or fictitious characters. The thing is, it wasn't even like good literature, I would just like mechanically list details and details, and then revise it when i wanted to change something.

Anybody have similar experiences? Im really curious. Im just realizing that its not just a "coping mechanism" or "escapism" for stress or boredem, its an activity that I resort to even when I have a lot of things going on in my real life that could be fun and stimulating!
As a kid I had so many imaginary friends and imaginary pets my parents were ashamed to take me out in public because invariably my invisible playmates would be along for the ride.

I remember being constantly in a dreamworld with only a sliver of a connection to reality - just enough to keep a rough track on what was happening (invariably I missed plenty of things happening right in front of me because I was in fantasyland)

As a teen I lost myself in fiction, both reading and writing...in fact I had a 'perpetual novel' going for about 3 years with some friends in high school - each of us taking turns to write a page or a paragraph...we ended up filling about 20 A4 binders with this convoluted fantasy story.

Even now I have trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality at times and drifting into a daydream is my number one time waster - I do it daily - at work, in the shower, in traffic, when I should be following a one on one conversation etc etc - Friends have accepted that most of the timeI will be late or disorganised because I 'zoned out' (without noticing I had) and lost a few hours somewhere.

Honey trust me I do the same thing. My daydreaming started in the 4th grade. It was always about me having everything I want and stuff like that it always brought me comfort. I thought I would grow out of it but I still do it constantly. But one thing I've noticed about it is it has given me a love for writing... novels that is. So that's some of the good that has come out of it. I've always had dreams of directing movies which is another great thing. You see that's one of the great things about our type of mind set. It can be very creative.




Hi, I have always had a major propensity to daydream. Ever since I was little, I would always invent characters and play out their fictitious lives in my head. I would often fantasize about being a girl (i am a guy), so the characters usually had a lot of overlap to my own life, so they felt "realistic" in a sense, but a few enhancements. I always preferred to daydream than do other things like read or even watch TV. I figured I would just daydream because I was bored. Or because my ability to "express" myself, was "repressed." Well, as I got older and escaped all the things repressing me, or so i thought, i still realize that i still like to withdraw into fantasy world, even if i have a lot of invitations or options to do seemingly fun things. I feel like maybe this is a pattern connected with ADHD (or OCD, I have been diagnosed as slightly OCD, whatever that means). So basically, I used to think I just daydreamed when bored or stressed, but now I feel like there may just be a distinct pattern with how my brain works that just gravitates toward this fantasy, daydream, default state.

I frankly do not like it because it makes it difficult to relate to people since I don't see so concerned with the real or outside world, as much as my fantasy land. I feel like if something happens in the outside world that doesn't have to do with my real life but rather my fantasy world stimulates me more than stuff from my real life. Say, I get a bad grade on a test, but I'm not as sad as I am when the sports team I fantasize about being on loses a game. I used to spend hours just writing about my fake life or fictitious characters. The thing is, it wasn't even like good literature, I would just like mechanically list details and details, and then revise it when i wanted to change something.

Anybody have similar experiences? Im really curious. Im just realizing that its not just a "coping mechanism" or "escapism" for stress or boredem, its an activity that I resort to even when I have a lot of things going on in my real life that could be fun and stimulating!

Hi, I have always had a major propensity to daydream. Ever since I was little, I would always invent characters and play out their fictitious lives in my head. I would often fantasize about being a girl (i am a guy), so the characters usually had a lot of overlap to my own life, so they felt "realistic" in a sense, but a few enhancements. I always preferred to daydream than do other things like read or even watch TV. I figured I would just daydream because I was bored. Or because my ability to "express" myself, was "repressed." Well, as I got older and escaped all the things repressing me, or so i thought, i still realize that i still like to withdraw into fantasy world, even if i have a lot of invitations or options to do seemingly fun things. I feel like maybe this is a pattern connected with ADHD (or OCD, I have been diagnosed as slightly OCD, whatever that means). So basically, I used to think I just daydreamed when bored or stressed, but now I feel like there may just be a distinct pattern with how my brain works that just gravitates toward this fantasy, daydream, default state.

I frankly do not like it because it makes it difficult to relate to people since I don't see so concerned with the real or outside world, as much as my fantasy land. I feel like if something happens in the outside world that doesn't have to do with my real life but rather my fantasy world stimulates me more than stuff from my real life. Say, I get a bad grade on a test, but I'm not as sad as I am when the sports team I fantasize about being on loses a game. I used to spend hours just writing about my fake life or fictitious characters. The thing is, it wasn't even like good literature, I would just like mechanically list details and details, and then revise it when i wanted to change something.

Anybody have similar experiences? Im really curious. Im just realizing that its not just a "coping mechanism" or "escapism" for stress or boredem, its an activity that I resort to even when I have a lot of things going on in my real life that could be fun and stimulating!

Cherish it buddy. I miss being able to spontaneously switch between reality and fantasy. *sigh*

And they say ADHD is 'bad'. :rolleyes:

I always used to daydream/live in a fantasy world when I was younger, and still do a lot of the time. My parents sent me to a psychiatrist when I was about 8 because I was convinced I was a boy called Simon (I'm a girl called Ellie :p ) and that the real me was my imaginary friend. It was complicated.

What with it being the UK, the late eighties, and my parents having just divorced, it was all put down to me being a screwy kid. I can't deny I was a screwy kid, but I wish they'd picked up on the ADD there and then!

Daydreaming linked to Alzheimer's disease

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=12789

We all have Alzheimer's! Loves it . . .

haha, jk, but it's interesting how brain imaging and reveal overlap and similarities between various conditions.

I suppose it is a dynamic interaction between an inherent predisposition to gravitate toward this "default state" where we "muse, daydream or retrieve pleasant memories" and environmental circumstances that drive us to "escape" our boring or impoverished surroundings via daydreaming.

I am so excited to take intro to neural science this semester! Let's all become neuroscientists!

Addiction? Similar to being addicted to Oxygen? Like breathing, it's really not a thing that I consciously seek, but it's just something that happens.

Addiction? Similar to being addicted to Oxygen? Like breathing, it's really not a thing that I consciously seek, but it's just something that happens.

I think "addiction" (obviously controversial, hence why i put it in quotes) is still appropriate, because it has a slight detrimental or negative connotation. yes, daydreaming is obviously great for nurturing certain creative faculties, but it also can be very anti-social, isolating, and not always productive or constructive -- e.g. daydreams that are like records on repeat or ruminations. Like drinking or doing drugs, daydreaming in order to escape stress may be effective in coping with stress, but it does not address the "root of the problem."

I have been diagnosed ADHD for like 20 years but what is ADHD-PI pardon my ignorance but i would really like to know thank you

Good heavens, are we now starting to crackdown on daydreams and daydreaming in general? *gasp*

I think "addiction" (obviously controversial, hence why i put it in quotes) is still appropriate, because it has a slight detrimental or negative connotation. yes, daydreaming is obviously great for nurturing certain creative faculties, but it also can be very anti-social, isolating, and not always productive or constructive -- e.g. daydreams that are like records on repeat or ruminations. Like drinking or doing drugs, daydreaming in order to escape stress may be effective in coping with stress, but it does not address the "root of the problem."

Just make the many ADHD-PI folks here feel guilty for daydreaming now, why don't you? Sounds like a novel idea. :p

Good heavens, are we now starting to crackdown on daydreams and daydreaming in general? *gasp*

Yeah, I have the same reaction. I don't think daydreaming has damaging effects comparable to drug addiction, and I don't think it makes someone antisocial. Counterproductive, I'll give you that... that's why a lot of ADHD-PI people seek treatment for their condition, so they can avoid distractions when they need to get work done... but suggesting that daydreaming is a destructive habit? Not in my view, anyway.

Just make the many ADHD-PI folks here feel guilty for daydreaming now, why don't you? Sounds like a novel idea. :confused:

Well, for my experience, daydreaming IS very debilitating in that it is anti-social, isolating, and further separates me from other people. I won't go into specifics, but basically, I think there are other very imaginative, creative, and expressive activities that I could have gotten more involved with that may have utilized similar faculties to those of daydreaming, yet been more beneficial to me in the long run -- maybe get more serious about singing, theater, art, photography, fashion, etc. I'm not trying to make people feel guilty, but this is something that has caused me humiliation and harrassment from teachers, troubled my school and otherwise work, and again sort of separated or isolated me from participating with other social activities. I do not want to rid myself of daydreaming, per se, but rather to understand it more fully and therefore be able to better recycle it toward something creative and productive.

Well, for my experience, daydreaming IS very debilitating in that it is anti-social, isolating, and further separates me from other people. I won't go into specifics, but basically, I think there are other very imaginative, creative, and expressive activities that I could have gotten more involved with that may have utilized similar faculties to those of daydreaming, yet been more beneficial to me in the long run -- maybe get more serious about singing, theater, art, photography, fashion, etc. I'm not trying to make people feel guilty, but this is something that has caused me humiliation and harrassment from teachers, troubled my school and otherwise work, and again sort of separated or isolated me from participating with other social activities. I do not want to rid myself of daydreaming, per se, but rather to understand it more fully and therefore be able to better recycle it toward something creative and productive.
I do not want to lose my imagination, I DO want to be in control of WHEN I use it.

I space out in one on one conversations (to the point where I wont answer the phone because I know Im going to zone out within 3 words, people who care will text or email or leave a voicemail, people who wont dont hear from me) and have to literally FIGHT to pay attention to what people are saying to me, I wouldnt miss that if it vanished tomorrow....

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font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> I know how you feel. I do the same thing whenever a situation arises where I have to sit or stand still. I do it while in class, working out, standing in line, in church, and sometimes when I talk to people. I’ve also tried to write this stuff down, in the end it just gets way too complicated and I just have to stop. Sometimes I dream that someone is filming me and in the next scene I become happy and that everything gets better. Sometimes it’s so bad that I get emotional but then I snap out back into reality.

I will keep this brief as I do suffer from ramblywriter syndrome.

I just want you to know that you are not alone.

An active imagination is a good thing - it allows us to plan for the future and have hope or take caution or make art. (AND Execute and Complete It!)

An overactive imagination can be a debilitating thing - it can lead us to spend our lives lying in bed for hours staring into space, twirling ones hair, piling up journals, writing 10 page letters, having the notecards for the project get out of control, catastrophizing, obsessing, daydreaming, having a hundred vivid conversations before making it out the door to go to the menial job (I call mine tellings, as they are usually me telling someone something and them understanding or validating my point of view), hypochondria, paranoia, having your fantasies and imaginary conversations be so vivid that every day you talk and gesticulate alone in the car or pop up and dash across the room in the middle of sitting on the couch or reading or watching TV when you think of something that piques you. And yes, not paying attention in class, at work, in life.

Meanwhile other people are out there connecting with each other, dating, getting advanced degrees, getting married - and I feel good when I make it to the post office that day.

An active imagination will help you start writing your novel - an overactive imagination will cause it to wind up spinning out of control in the closet.

I have only come to realize that this is more than just "the inner monologue" that normals hear, that it veers a little closer to the self-contained inner world that (please don't freak out about the next word) autistics live in. Interactions with other people often involve me hearing the voice in my head that says, "Now nod, now look the person in the eye, now that's your cue to follow up with a question...."

I just started Rit LA and for three days I felt what the Normals must feel. I understood how time flowed for them, I knew what the important thing on the list was, I remembered a name and noticed the cap off the toothpaste, I brushed my cat and felt more connected to her.

The tangential thoughts came but the tether back to Planet Earth was more taut and I felt I could guide myself back to what I was supposed to be focused on. Less hair twirling. The Mekong Delta that formerly lay between deciding to do a thing and actually doing it dried up and blew away.

It's been almost 2 weeks now and it doesn't seem to be working (did I mention this was going to be short? exactly). Some posts refer to an initial high and chasing the dragon of stimulants but I don't see how noticing the toothpaste cap is off and realizing that my finances are very important and not some vague future catastrophe is being "high".

I'll keep at it. There is the possibility that meds won't work (that I can't sustain interest in the pill that allows you to sustain interest). That's when I'll just re-read Flowers for Algernon and be grateful for all my blessings - and not an imaginary world of what could be if my self-control matched my intelligence.

Peace!

I will keep this brief as I do suffer from ramblywriter syndrome.

I just want you to know that you are not alone.

An active imagination is a good thing - it allows us to plan for the future and have hope or take caution or make art. (AND Execute and Complete It!)

An overactive imagination can be a debilitating thing - it can lead us to spend our lives lying in bed for hours staring into space, twirling ones hair, piling up journals, writing 10 page letters, having the notecards for the project get out of control, catastrophizing, obsessing, daydreaming, having a hundred vivid conversations before making it out the door to go to the menial job (I call mine tellings, as they are usually me telling someone something and them understanding or validating my point of view), hypochondria, paranoia, having your fantasies and imaginary conversations be so vivid that every day you talk and gesticulate alone in the car or pop up and dash across the room in the middle of sitting on the couch or reading or watching TV when you think of something that piques you. And yes, not paying attention in class, at work, in life.

Meanwhile other people are out there connecting with each other, dating, getting advanced degrees, getting married - and I feel good when I make it to the post office that day.

An active imagination will help you start writing your novel - an overactive imagination will cause it to wind up spinning out of control in the closet.

I have only come to realize that this is more than just "the inner monologue" that normals hear, that it veers a little closer to the self-contained inner world that (please don't freak out about the next word) autistics live in. Interactions with other people often involve me hearing the voice in my head that says, "Now nod, now look the person in the eye, now that's your cue to follow up with a question...."

I just started Rit LA and for three days I felt what the Normals must feel. I understood how time flowed for them, I knew what the important thing on the list was, I remembered a name and noticed the cap off the toothpaste, I brushed my cat and felt more connected to her.

The tangential thoughts came but the tether back to Planet Earth was more taut and I felt I could guide myself back to what I was supposed to be focused on. Less hair twirling. The Mekong Delta that formerly lay between deciding to do a thing and actually doing it dried up and blew away.

It's been almost 2 weeks now and it doesn't seem to be working (did I mention this was going to be short? exactly). Some posts refer to an initial high and chasing the dragon of stimulants but I don't see how noticing the toothpaste cap is off and realizing that my finances are very important and not some vague future catastrophe is being "high".

I'll keep at it. There is the possibility that meds won't work (that I can't sustain interest in the pill that allows you to sustain interest). That's when I'll just re-read Flowers for Algernon and be grateful for all my blessings - and not an imaginary world of what could be if my self-control matched my intelligence.

Peace!

very beautifully put, hudson. i don't mean to wave my clinical finger at people, but in my experience, as I get older, the excessive daydreaming gets less and less glamorous.

i dabbled into so many hobbies and "passions" that i thought would accommodate or utilize my special imaginative, creative, and "outside the box thinking"...but we can't all be the next beat poets, or andy warhol, pop memoir sensation, or exciting personality on the Real World or any other reality TV show.

and i realized that a lot of the "squares" that i would contrast or juxtapose myself against actually do have very dynamic, creative, imaginative, and wild lives and mental experiences, but just not in such a LITERAL way.

i, too, still have the jury out regarding medication. i was prescribed Adderall recently, but was very concerned, cautious, and skeptical. But it is nice to be able to read a book without getting distracted by how the paper feels against my finger tip as a turn the page...then how those clerks at the supermarket dab their fingers on the wet sponges while counting cash...and it all spirals out of control from there and soon enough i forget what i'm reading.

another thing...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/43418.php

http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2006/05/are-daydreams-different-in-autistic.html

this study is actually 2 years old, but apparently, Autistic Spectrum Disorder people actually do the opposite of what you posited. Well, that is a pretty crude interpretation. But surprisingly, the default network associated daydreaming, self, self-awareness, and that activates during stimulus independent thought during fMRI experiments and suppressed during active tasks...this region actually does not increase in activation during stimulus independent thought for ASD individuals, and of course nor does it deactivate during instructed tasks (in this experiment, the stroop task -- which ASD individuals perform comparably to controls).

i've actually engaged with an autistic person, nor do i have much background on their behavioral tendencies and stuff. but i certainly dont think this means your comparison to the (paraphrasing) "insulated inner world of an autistic person" is not valid. perhaps their version of "daydreaming" is more of a constant state for them, rather than like the other side of the coin or dichotomous state for normals. my appreciation (be it a dilettante one) for post modern, post structuralism, and all that jazz has my inner slavoj zizek itching to flesh out all sorts of connections to this neuroscientifically revealed lack of dichotomy/binary and ASD difficulty with social norms.

*****ok, i need to rewrite that...and it has been over 30 minutes*****

another thing...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/43418.php

http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2006...-autistic.html (http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2006/05/are-daydreams-different-in-autistic.html)

this study is 2 years old...but apparently Autistic Spectrum Disorder people actually do the opposite of what you posited. Well, that is a pretty crude way to put it. But surprisingly, the "default network" (which has been associated w/ daydreaming, the self, self-awareness) that activates during pauses between tasks during fMRI cog neuro experiments (during which people likely engage in stimulus independent thought, or their minds appear to wander) and inversely is suppressed during "active tasks"...this "default network" actually does NOT increase in activation during opportunities for mind wandering in ASD individuals, and therefore does not deactivate during instructed tasks (in this experiment, they used the stroop task -- which ASD individuals perform comparably to controls).

i don't think i've ever actually interacted with an autistic person, nor do i have much background on their behavioral tendencies and stuff. but i certainly don't think this means your comparison of our daydreaming to the (paraphrasing) "insulated inner world of an autistic person" is invalid. rather, perhaps their version of "daydreaming" is more of a constant state for them, rather than like, being the other side of the coin or dichotomous state for normals.

my appreciation (be it a dilettante one) for post modern cultural criticism, post structuralism, and all that jazz has my inner slavoj zizek itching to flesh out all sorts of connections between this neuroscientifically revealed lack of cognitive dichotomy/binary and ASD difficulty with social norms and conventions. i'm trying to imagine a time and/or place when these dichotomies/binaries were less rampant/pervasive, and ASD individuals may be the the Normals.