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Full-Text Articles in Clinical Psychology
The Micro-Politics Of A New Mental Condition: Legitimization In Maladaptive Daydreamers' Discourse, Orit Bershtling Ph.D., Eli Somer Ph.D.
The Micro-Politics Of A New Mental Condition: Legitimization In Maladaptive Daydreamers' Discourse, Orit Bershtling Ph.D., Eli Somer Ph.D.
The Qualitative Report
This study illuminates legitimization efforts in the discourse of individuals who suffer from excessive, uncontrolled daydreaming: a contested mental condition that has not yet been recognized by the medical establishment. It aims to explore the rhetorical maneuvers employed by these “Maladaptive Daydreamers” in 35 email exchanges with the second author and two petitions, submitted to the American Psychiatric Association and to the UK Parliament, with a demand for recognition. Our analysis, anchored theoretically and methodologically in Critical Discourse Analysis, identified several verbal strategies employed by the participants to persuade their interlocutors about the realness of their suffering. The main strategies …