Maladaptive daydreaming: When being caught up a world in which people love you can be bad
Hannah found daydreaming could help her escape a difficult childhood.
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Hannah Byford is a 28-year-old nurse from Los Angeles, who likes riding horses and playing the cello. And for the first two decades of her life, she kept a secret.
Her experience of growing up was one of pain and anger and she would retreat to an imagined life inside of her head — an elaborate daydream.
"It was an escape. It was to protect myself and give me that outlet in a way that maintained my sanity and in a way that I could oftentimes feel love and I could feel acceptance, and I could be who I am without worrying about being hurt," she says.