Can Mindfulness and Self-monitoring Improve Control Over Maladaptive Daydreaming?

Summary

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a compulsive form of daydreaming that causes distress and functional impairment among tens of thousands of self-diagnosed sufferers. This is the first controlled treatment trial for MD. The investigators built an internet-based self-help program for MD and tested the effectiveness of mindfulness and self-monitoring in improving control over MD, comparing three groups across three measurement points in time.

Conditions

• Internet-Based Intervention
• Psychological Intervention
• Intervention Study

Interventions

OTHER

Online therapeutic intervention for maladaptive daydreaming based on mindfulness and self-monitoring

An 8-weeks internet-based self-guided intervention program, accompanied by e-mail. The content of the intervention and training modules comprised texts, illustrations, explanatory video and audio lectures, as well as interactive worksheets embedded in each week's lesson. Typically, a lesson started with a textual description of its target and duration. Then, participants received a summary of what had been taught thus far, and finally, a novel technique or skill was introduced. Each lesson required about 60 minutes to complete. Users had open access to web pages of previous lessons. Upon completion of each lesson, participants received a list of home assignments to practice during the following week. Our internet-based program featured a notification and download center containing the program's materials and pertinent messages from the researchers.

OTHER

Online therapeutic intervention for maladaptive daydreaming based on mindfulness

An 8-weeks internet-based self-guided intervention program, accompanied by e-mail. The content of the intervention and training modules comprised texts, illustrations, explanatory video and audio lectures, as well as interactive worksheets embedded in each week's lesson. Typically, a lesson started with a textual description of its target and duration. Then, participants received a summary of what had been taught thus far, and finally, a novel technique or skill was introduced. Each lesson required about 60 minutes to complete. Users had open access to web pages of previous lessons. Upon completion of each lesson, participants received a list of home assignments to practice during the following week. Our internet-based program featured a notification and download center containing the program's materials and pertinent messages from the researchers.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Haifa

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Oren Herscu, PhD · School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel

• Eli Somer, PhD · School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel

• Nirit Soffer-Dudek, PhD · Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-12-20

Primary Completion

2020-02-03

Completion

2021-02-28

Countries

• Israel

Study Locations