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Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD) is a recently identified psychological disorder, characterized by excessively and addictively engaging in vivid, narrative, intensely emotional fantasy activity, at times with the aid of music and\/or repetitive movements, causing distress and functional impairment. Over 100,000 self-diagnosed individuals are active online and thousands of them have been researched; yet there are no studies using clinical interviews on large, systematic general (non-MD) samples, to assess the estimated prevalence of this suggested disorder, and establish norms for its main psychometric tool.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Four independent Israeli samples (three student samples, and one sample representing the general Jewish-Israeli population; total <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic> = 1,023) self-reported MD. In two samples, those exceeding the cutoff score for suspected MD were invited for a structured clinical interview.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The skewness of most items of the 16-item Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16) supports the notion of MD as a binary construct rather than a normally distributed trait. In the community sample, 4.2% exceeded the cutoff for suspected MD. Rates were higher when focusing on the young adult age group or student samples (5.5\u20138.5%), suggesting a likely age effect. Following clinical interviews, only 60% of interviewed respondents met criteria for diagnosis, suggesting a true point-prevalence of 2.5% in the Israeli-Jewish population.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>This is the first systematic clinical evaluation of the prevalence of MD. In an Israeli sample, a point-prevalence of 2.5% was found, like several other internalizing psychiatric syndromes. This result, along with the Non-normal nature of item distribution, both support the validity of MD as a psychological disorder, which should be considered as a potential addition to future psychiatric diagnostic manuals.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2022.871041","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,27]],"date-time":"2022-04-27T06:38:56Z","timestamp":1651041536000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":49,"title":["Maladaptive Daydreaming: Epidemiological Data on a Newly Identified Syndrome"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Nirit","family":"Soffer-Dudek","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nitzan","family":"Theodor-Katz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1634","DOI":"10.1016\/j.concog.2011.08.013","article-title":"Compulsive fantasy: proposed evidence of an under-reported syndrome through a systematic study of 90 self-identified non-normative fantasizers","volume":"20","author":"Bigelsen","year":"2011","journal-title":"Conscious Cogn."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1020597026919","article-title":"Maladaptive daydreaming: a qualitative inquiry","volume":"32","author":"Somer","year":"2002","journal-title":"J Contemp Psychother."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"176","DOI":"10.1037\/cns0000114","article-title":"Maladaptive daydreaming: proposed diagnostic criteria and their assessment with a structured clinical interview","volume":"4","author":"Somer","year":"2017","journal-title":"Psychol Conscious."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"838","DOI":"10.1556\/2006.7.2018.95","article-title":"Maladaptive daydreaming as a new form of behavioral addiction","volume":"7","author":"Pietkiewicz","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Behav Addict"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"865","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amp.2019.08.014","article-title":"Maladaptive daydreaming: towards a nosological definition","volume":"177","author":"Schimmenti","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ann M\u00e9d Psychol."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.1016\/j.concog.2008.10.002","article-title":"Excessive daydreaming: a case history and discussion of mind wandering and high fantasy proneness","volume":"18","author":"Schupak","year":"2009","journal-title":"Conscious Cogn."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1056","DOI":"10.1556\/2006.2020.00080","article-title":"Different cultures, similar daydream addiction? 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