Daydream

The mind is withdrawn from immediate physical surroundings and indulges in pleasing speculation or wanders through images pertaining to the individual's life. Apparently a time-filler, but possibly psychologically necessary, periods of relaxation or diffuse thinking tend to be interposed between more concentrated times on a regular basis. This may be an extension of the habit of "tuning out" habitual impulses, so that unusual events are noticed. When there are no unusual events, then daydreaming creates its own novelty.

Four types of daydream have been noted: (1) Self recrimination – with the theme of what one should have said or done on some previous occasion; (2) Controlled and thoughtful – when the day ahead is planned or some future event organized; (3) Autistic – when consciousness is interrupted by material usually associated with dreams at night; and (4) Neurotic or self-conscious – including fantasies about the future.

The attraction of daydreaming and fantasy is that existential limitations are changed and one can act as if one had all the qualities one desired, being omnipotent, god-like and free of the limitations and pressures of actual events. The danger is that imagined possibilities may masquerade as realizable projects; and that not only may one fantasize upwards into the wish-worlds, but also downwards into dread and self-in-despair.

Normal consciousness is said to be alert thinking (concentrated) interspersed at regular intervals by relaxed thinking (concentrated) or daydreaming (diffuse). This mirrors the regular pattern of paradoxical or rapid eye movement sleep which occurs about every 90 minutes during the night.