Maladaptive Daydreaming.

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This is totally me too, except I curl up on the sofa instead of pacing. I tend to find I daydream more when I am stressed or upset. It's definately an escape thing sometimes, but sometimes it's just a fun thing too. Sometimes I daydream about real life but I also daydream about made up characters, or people in TV shows. I have recently been getting more obsessive about my daydreaming, which was starting to worry me, so it is very good to hear that it's not just me. I have seen it in a list of Aspie traits before, particularly in women, but it is so much more comforting to hear other real people's stories.

Also, it is something that is intensely private, I have never spoken to anyone about it. But now I've put in on the internet. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I'm having one of those moments where I've got an absolute idea in my head that I need to start talking about it. I may regret it later.

Both. Some past that I can't forget, some future, or others that are me thinking of what I wish I'd said. I think I'm either too practical and mild mannered, so the other person thinks I don't care and I get nowhere, or I'll become more aggressive because I'm not being heard, which doesn't work either.

I too replay all kind of conversations in my head , but I don't think it's the same as daydreaming .
I think it's an (over)compensation mechanism for underdeveloped communication and verbal reasoning skills .
I don't think anyone can be always right , and we all need to analyze ours and other people's opinions in detail , which can be helped by those conversations .

Yes. There's a wedding I have to go to in a few weeks and I feel like I've already lived it several times. Pictured the venue (which I haven't seen yet, so lots of things to imagine), had imaginary conversations with other people who I know are going, imagined where I'll be sitting etc etc. I feel like this is why I like to have plans in advance, so I can imagine scenarios before they happen.

When does the daydreaming become maladaptive? I guess I do drift off and daydream in the middle of conversations and I have ended up in scrapes because I've been daydreaming and not concentrating. And I guess it does consume quite a lot of time. But I like doing it.

I'd class the "scripting the future" type day-dreaming as maladaptive for me. It can consume huge amounts of my time, and sometimes leads to physical/mental exhaustion, either from pacing (usually on tiptoe), 'stressed out' posture, or interfering with my sleep. I know well enough after all these years, that two seconds into the real experience, not one of my "scripts" are still going to be on-course, and I don't believe that they have any power to influence reality. When I finally snap out of it, I want to curse myself for being so irrational. So, it is something I wish I had better control over, so that the time and energy could be better spent.

Ha! For so long I thought I was the only person in the world to daydream like this! I love the internet. When I was growing up I read obsessively and had a little bit of a fit if anyone interrupted me. I never went anywhere without two or three books and I grew distressed when I didn't have something to read. Initially it was just books but I was eventually able to incorporate movies and TV as well. Around these stories I've constructed universes of alternate timelines and continuations in my head. Sometimes I feel ancient because of how long I've lived in my head. The characters I've built these worlds around seem like dear friends to me and looking back on my life I have clearer memories of the books I'v read than almost any real event. It's so nice that other people have had somewhat similar experiences!

Do any of you also become so involved in this daydreams that you make the gestures and facial expressions to go with them, as if you're having the conversation? My dad and I both do this.

Yup! And sometimes I speak the conversation ( my part ) out loud or part of it especially if it's conflict related. It something I only do it alone but occasionally a random word slips out - luckily no one has noticed.

I've kind of got used to embarrassing myself by "acting out" the daydream while I'm out walking. It sometimes takes a few funny looks from people before I realise that I'm muttering to myself and I usually have no idea how long I've been doing it.

Not me, I tend to have a really blank face and just rock quietly to myself. I'm not sure which of those people would find most unnerving.

This is just like me. I worry that I do this sometimes when people are around. I always catch myself making weird smirky faces at work and I know people must notice

I'm so anxious that everyone is going to think I'm a lunatic that it's like a survival skill to keep it hidden. When I am on top of my anxiety & depression ( not very often ) I am less self conscious about my behaviour.

I daydream all the time. My mind simply wanders even when I'm doing anything else. Sometimes I focus on a particular subject and keep thinking about it all day long, I get distracted from everything else and just keep ruminating on it. So, in short my answer would be yes. Anyway that doesn't mean that all the people deemed normal don't do it as well.

I struggle trying to count more than 10 items without getting sidetracked with daydreaming and have to start again

Yes this is true, the daydreams never really reflect the reality. Especially when social interactions are involved. I feel like for me the kind of "scripting the future" dreams help reduce anxiety because they convince me in advance that I can cope with whatever the situation is. But they do take a huge amount of time and they don't actually help to make the future go more smoothly or change its course in any way. I have thought before when I've really wanted something to happen I should stop daydreaming about it because then it never will!

Often I struggle to have conversations without starting to daydream in the middle of them too. Even if I like the other person and I want to know what they have to say. I suddenly realize "oh no, I'm not listening to any of this!" and I have to hope I haven't missed anything important and that I wasn't looking glazed over or even amused/anxious etc etc depending on what the daydream is. If it's my mother or someone else who knows me well enough not to be offended or take it personally then I can tell them "I'm sorry, I forgot to listen. Please could you say that again?" But people do find that pretty irritating.