Atlas›Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements›Guide 157
Guide XIV-157

Reality shifting

2020
A 27 · L 58 · M 1515 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: reality shifting as presented in post-2020 online shifting communities (TikTok, Amino, Reddit), read alongside the first psychological study of the practice (Somer, Cardeña, Catelan and Soffer-Dudek, Current Psychology, 2023). This guide does not teach the practice and gives no induction methods. It is written for a therapist whose client practises shifting or is affected by it.

What it is. Shifting communities describe reality shifting as moving one's consciousness from the "current reality" (CR) into a "desired reality" (DR), often a fictional universe; a widely reported example is the Harry Potter world. Practitioners often write a "script", a planned account of who they will be and what will happen in the DR, and many describe the experience as more vivid than a dream [source: i-D]. Somer et al. describe it as a mental activity that appeared abruptly in 2020 around the COVID-19 pandemic, practised mainly by post-millennials, with a large online footprint (one forum of over 40,000 members; clips viewed over 1.7 billion times). They describe reported methods as built on relaxation, focused attention and autosuggestion. Some practitioners report a strong sense of presence in the DR, and some believe the DR is concretely real [source: Somer et al. 2023, abstract].

How the community understands change. Within the community, a shift is an actual transfer of consciousness to another reality. Somer et al. instead frame it as an emergent online daydreaming culture and compare it with maladaptive daydreaming, dissociation and related phenomena [source: Somer et al. 2023]. Evidence status in one line: there is no evidence that consciousness leaves this reality; the experiences themselves are real as experiences and are studied as immersive imagination and absorption [source: Somer et al. 2023; synthesis].

Variants that matter clinically. "Permashifting" means aiming to stay permanently in a DR. "Respawning", described by Somer as the most extreme form, means moving permanently into another reality while a copy of oneself is believed to remain in the body here [source: TimesLIVE 2023]. Treat any talk of permanent leaving, respawning or not coming back as a possible suicide communication until assessed (see sections 4 and 5).

The therapist's job. The work is not to confirm or debunk shifting. It is to understand what shifting does for this client, assess function, distress and risk, separate absorbed imagination from dissociation or psychosis without pathologising belief, protect sleep and safety, and keep a curious, non-shaming stance [synthesis].

2. Framework

Shifting is a practice clients bring, not a therapy, so it has no treatment phases of its own. The framework below is the clinical sequence for working with it. It is [synthesis] built from the sources cited in each phase. No source gives session counts, so none are stated.

What the community framework looks like (for orientation only)

  • Core terms: CR (current reality), DR (desired reality), the script, "methods" (induction techniques, not described here) [source: i-D; Somer et al. 2023]. Use the client's own terms. Terms not in the sources should be learned from the client, not assumed [synthesis].
  • Where it lives: TikTok is described as the largest community, with Amino and Reddit also hosting groups [source: i-D].
  • Who: mainly post-millennials, many of them teenagers or young adults [source: Somer et al. 2023; i-D].
  • Experiences reported: vividness beyond dreaming, bodily sensations such as vibrations, and hearing voices said to come from the DR [source: i-D].

Phase A: Engagement and meaning

  • Goal: a safe, non-shaming alliance in which the client can describe shifting in their own words.
  • Format: individual sessions. With a young person, agree confidentiality limits with them and their carers at the start [synthesis].
  • Move on when: you know what shifting is for this client (comfort, escape, identity, creativity, belonging, grief) and the client feels heard rather than judged.

Phase B: Assessment and differential

  • Goal: rate frequency, time spent, sleep, function, distress and risk. Screen for maladaptive daydreaming, derealisation and depersonalisation, other dissociation, psychosis, mania, OCD-type compulsion, grief and trauma.
  • Tools: the Cultural Formulation Interview, including its spirituality, religion and moral traditions module [uncertain: DSM-5-TR text not verified]; the 16-item Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16) and the Structured Clinical Interview for Maladaptive Daydreaming [source: Somer et al. 2017; Hungarian MDS-16 study]; the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale and Dissociative Experiences Scale [source: Blueprint].
  • Move on when: you have a working formulation and a risk rating. Any of these means referral or urgent action before further work: loss of reality testing, hallucinations outside planned practice, focal neurological signs, or intent to "leave permanently" [source: Blueprint; synthesis].

Phase C: Formulation and goals

  • Goal: a shared account of what shifting gives, what it costs, and what the client wants to change. That may be nothing, cutting down, better sleep, or stopping.
  • Move on when: the goals are the client's own. Shifting itself is not the target unless it causes harm or distress [synthesis].

Phase D: Intervention

  • Goal: address what drives problematic use (loneliness, distress, trauma, low mood, an unmet need for agency), restore sleep and grounding, and build a satisfying current life. Use the inventory in section 4.
  • Move on when: function and sleep improve, derealisation drops, and risk is stable.

Phase E: Review and relapse planning

  • Goal: a written plan covering early warning signs (fear during or after practice, a weakened sense of shared reality, drifting into altered states outside planned sessions) and who to contact [source: i-D, citing a therapist's warning signs; synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

  • Curious, non-shaming stance: ask about shifting the way you would ask about any meaningful hobby or belief. Mockery or alarm closes the conversation and drives the practice into secrecy [synthesis].
  • Describe beliefs, don't adjudicate them: say "in the shifting community, a DR is…", not "the DR isn't real". Neither state nor dismiss the claim that consciousness travels [synthesis].
  • Experience is not evidence of disorder: vivid immersive imagination and absorption are common and not pathological in themselves. Assess distress, impairment and reality testing, not content [source: Somer et al. 2023; Blueprint; synthesis].
  • Function first: the key question is what shifting does for the client and what it costs them, not whether it "works" [synthesis].
  • Listen to the message: one psychologist reads attempts to respawn as distress, as people "telling us something about what's wrong with their lives". Respond to the need, not the method [source: TimesLIVE 2023].
  • Safety overrides neutrality: any wish to leave this life permanently is assessed as possible suicidality, in plain, calm language and following current risk practice [synthesis].
  • Protect sleep: shifting is often attempted at bedtime or in half-awake states [source: i-D]. Sleep loss worsens derealisation and mood, so sleep is an early target [source: Blueprint; synthesis].
  • Developmental lens: a psychology professor warns that young people without a strongly established sense of self may be at some risk from repeatedly taking on new identities. Support identity development in the client's current life [source: TimesLIVE 2023].
  • Not the guide: the therapist does not teach, coach, script or validate shifting methods, and does not "shift" with the client [synthesis].
  • Cultural humility: use the Cultural Formulation Interview to place shifting within the client's own spiritual, fandom and online cultural world [uncertain: DSM-5-TR text not verified].
  • Safeguarding with minors: work with carers and schools where needed, never name or expose a young person, and focus on risk, sleep and wellbeing, not on banning content [synthesis].
  • Spiritual or religious problem coding: where distress is about belief or experience rather than a disorder, a Z-code for psychosocial problems may fit. ICD-10-CM Z65.8 is "Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances" [source: Unbound Medicine]. The DSM-5-TR "Religious or Spiritual Problem" wording is [uncertain: not verified].

4. Intervention inventory

These are the therapist's interventions for a client who shifts. None of them teaches, coaches or improves shifting. Unless marked otherwise, procedures are [synthesis] built from general clinical practice and the sources cited.

4.1 Client-led exploration of meaning

  • Purpose: learn what shifting means and does for the client, in their own language. Use it at the first mention and return to it throughout.
  • Steps: (1) Ask permission to talk about it. (2) Ask the client to explain shifting as they would to a friend, including their terms (CR, DR, script). (3) Ask what draws them to their DR and what they feel there. (4) Ask how they feel on returning to the CR. (5) Reflect the need you hear (safety, belonging, competence, romance, escape, control) without commenting on whether shifting is real. (6) Note who else knows about it and how those people respond.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'd like to understand shifting the way you experience it. Could you walk me through what your DR is like, and what it gives you?" / "When you come back to your current reality, what's that like?"
  • Watch for: shame or testing ("you probably think it's stupid"), which calls for explicit non-judgement. Strong grief or dread on return points to escape from current distress. It is working when the client volunteers detail and starts linking the DR to needs in their current life.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview, including the spirituality, religion and moral traditions module

  • Purpose: place shifting within the client's cultural, spiritual, fandom and online world, and separate shared community belief from idiosyncratic belief. Use it in assessment and whenever the meaning of an experience is unclear.
  • Steps: (1) Use the core CFI domains: the client's definition of the problem, their cultural identity (including online communities), their explanations, sources of support and help-seeking. (2) Use the spirituality module to ask how shifting fits with any faith, spiritual or metaphysical beliefs, and with family beliefs. (3) Ask how the shifting community would explain distressing experiences. (4) Ask whether others in the community report similar experiences. Shared, culturally scripted experiences carry different diagnostic weight from isolated, unshared ones. Paraphrase the CFI's questions; do not read them out.
  • Example language (illustrative): "In the shifting community, how would people explain what happened to you?" / "Does shifting connect with anything you believe about the soul, consciousness or other worlds?"
  • Watch for: beliefs that go beyond what the community holds, or that the client cannot step back from at all, which matter for the psychosis differential (4.6). Watch also for family or religious conflict about the practice. [source: DSM-5-TR CFI, structure only; uncertain: DSM-5-TR text not verified]

4.3 Functional analysis of shifting

  • Purpose: map triggers, functions and costs so goals target what drives problematic use. Use it once shifting takes up significant time or causes distress.
  • Steps: (1) Ask about the last few attempts or sessions: when, where, mood before, what happened, mood after. (2) Estimate time spent, including scripting, watching shifting content and posting. (3) List the benefits the client names. (4) List the costs: sleep, school or work, relationships, money spent on paid content or coaching, mood when shifts "fail". (5) Summarise the cycle back to the client and agree one target.
  • Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like you shift most on nights after a bad day at school, and the next day you're exhausted. Is that right?"
  • Watch for: a compulsive pattern (rising time, failed attempts to cut down, distress when unable to practise) points to maladaptive daydreaming (4.4) or OCD-type features (4.7). Self-blame when shifts "fail" is a target in itself. It is working when the client sees the cycle and picks a goal.

4.4 Screening for maladaptive daydreaming

  • Purpose: Somer et al. frame shifting as a daydreaming culture and compare it with maladaptive daydreaming. Screen for it when immersion is long, hard to stop or impairing [source: Somer et al. 2023].
  • Steps: (1) Ask about daydreaming outside shifting: how long, how often, whether music or media triggers it, whether movement accompanies it, and whether it is hard to stop. (2) Use the MDS-16, a 16-item self-report scale; a cut-off of 35 is used in at least one published study [source: Hungarian MDS-16 study]. (3) If the screen is positive, assess with the Structured Clinical Interview for Maladaptive Daydreaming, which follows the proposed criteria built around excessive daydreaming with distress and impaired daily functioning [source: Somer et al. 2017]. Describe the instruments to the client; do not reproduce items.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Apart from shifting, do you find yourself drifting into long, detailed daydreams that are hard to pull out of?"
  • Watch for: the source literature describes maladaptive daydreaming as excessive, addictive and compulsive, with time loss and severe distress [source: Hungarian MDS-16 study, citing Somer 2002]. It is working when the client can name triggers and use alternatives (4.11).

4.5 Derealisation and dissociation assessment, with grounding

  • Purpose: find and reduce derealisation or depersonalisation that persists outside planned practice. A therapist quoted in reporting names three warning signs: fear caused by the experience, challenges to one's sense of shared ("consensual") reality, and ongoing drifting into altered states outside planned shifting [source: i-D].
  • Steps: (1) Ask screening questions: does the world feel flat, distant or dreamlike outside practice; do you feel you are watching yourself from outside? Clients may use phrases such as "behind glass" or "video-game graphics" [source: Blueprint]. (2) Consider the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale and Dissociative Experiences Scale [source: Blueprint]. (3) Record onset, frequency, duration, severity and impairment [source: Blueprint]. (4) Teach sensory grounding (name what you can see, touch, hear, smell and taste) and verbal anchoring in the room [source: Blueprint]. (5) Offer psychoeducation that derealisation is the mind's protective brake under stress, not a sign of having left reality [source: Blueprint, adapted].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you're not shifting, do things ever feel unreal, as if you're in a dream or a game?" / "Let's bring your attention back to the room: tell me three things you can see right now."
  • Watch for: red flags that point away from simple derealisation, namely loss of reality testing, fixed beliefs, visual hallucinations, or focal neurological signs. These call for psychiatric or neurological referral before dissociation-focused work [source: Blueprint]. Rule out substance effects, especially cannabis and hallucinogens [source: Blueprint]. It is working when episodes outside practice become shorter and less frightening.

4.6 Psychosis and mania differential

  • Purpose: tell apart a culturally shared belief and absorbed imagination from psychosis or mania, without pathologising the belief.
  • Steps: (1) Check insight and flexibility: can the client hold "I believe I shift" alongside "others see it differently"? (2) Ask whether voices or presences occur only during planned practice, or intrude at other times. (3) Ask about new, unshared beliefs: being watched, special missions, the CR being fake, or other people being "copies". (4) Screen for mania (reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts, grandiosity) and for a decline in function or self-care. (5) Take a family history and a substance history. (6) Refer urgently for psychiatric assessment if reality testing is lost.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people in the community hear voices during a shift. Do you ever hear them at other times, when you're not trying to shift?"
  • Watch for: practitioners report hearing voices from the DR [source: i-D], and some believe the DR is concretely real [source: Somer et al. 2023]. Neither is diagnostic alone. What raises concern is intrusion outside practice, distress, functional decline, and beliefs that spread beyond the shifting frame. A psychology professor warns of losing touch with reality [source: TimesLIVE 2023]. It is working when the client can describe experiences with some reflective distance.

4.7 OCD and compulsive-pattern differential

  • Purpose: recognise when scripting, repeated attempts or checking whether a shift "worked" become anxiety-driven rituals. Use it when distress centres on doing it "right" or on fear of what happens if one fails.
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the client fears if they do not script, practise or check. (2) Separate wanting to shift (pleasure-seeking) from having to (relief of anxiety). (3) If the pattern is OCD-like, refer to, or provide, exposure and response prevention from a clinician trained in it. Exposure must have consent, a clear rationale and a graded plan [synthesis]. (4) Address magical-thinking fears (for example, that a CR event happened because the script was "wrong").
  • Example language (illustrative): "If you skipped scripting tonight, what would you worry might happen?"
  • Watch for: rituals that grow, reassurance-seeking from online groups, and guilt. It is working when the client can delay or drop a ritual and tolerate the anxiety. [synthesis; uncertain: not verified]

4.8 Suicide-risk assessment when permanent shifting or respawning comes up

  • Purpose: respawning is described as permanently moving into another reality while a copy remains in one's body [source: TimesLIVE 2023]. A wish never to return, or to leave this body or life, may express suicidal intent in the community's language. Assess it every time it comes up.
  • Steps: (1) Stay calm and ask directly, in plain words, whether the client has thoughts of ending their life or of dying to reach their DR. Asking does not plant the idea [synthesis, standard risk practice]. (2) Separate the wish to escape this life from the wish to die, and ask about intent, plans, past attempts, current distress and protective factors. (3) Do not discuss, correct or explore any method content the client has seen online; move the focus to the distress. (4) If there is risk, make a safety plan: warning signs, coping steps, people and services to contact (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US; Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland; local crisis lines elsewhere), and lethal-means counselling limited to safe storage or removal of means. (5) With a minor, follow safeguarding procedures and involve carers unless that would increase risk. (6) Escalate to crisis or emergency services when risk is imminent.
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you say you want to shift permanently and not come back, I want to check something important. Are you having thoughts of ending your life, or of dying to get there?" / "It sounds like your current life feels unbearable right now. Let's talk about what's making it so hard."
  • Watch for: urgency, giving away belongings, saying goodbyes, hopelessness about the CR, withdrawal, and online peers encouraging permanence. One psychologist reads respawning as a sign of distress that calls for listening and help [source: TimesLIVE 2023]. It is working when the client can name reasons to stay and the people they would contact. Never quote or describe method material in notes shared with others; record risk factually.

4.9 Sleep protection

  • Purpose: practice is often tied to bedtime and half-awake states [source: i-D]. Sleep loss and irregular sleep can worsen derealisation and mood [source: Blueprint]. Use it whenever practice cuts into sleep.
  • Steps: (1) Use a sleep diary covering bedtime, time spent attempting to shift, waking and daytime tiredness. (2) Agree a protected sleep window in which no attempts happen. (3) Apply standard sleep hygiene and, if insomnia persists, CBT-I principles or referral [synthesis]. (4) Review caffeine and cannabis use [source: Blueprint].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Could we try keeping your sleep time as sleep time for two weeks, and see how your days feel?"
  • Watch for: daytime sleepiness, falling grades or work performance, and irritability. It is working when the diary shows steadier sleep and the client feels better in the day.

4.10 Grief, trauma and escape: working with what shifting replaces

  • Purpose: reporting frames shifting partly as escape from stressful lives, and it surged during the pandemic [source: TimesLIVE 2023; Somer et al. 2023]. Use this when the DR stands in for something missing or painful.
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the DR has that the CR lacks: a lost person, safety, love, ability, freedom from abuse or bullying. (2) Screen for trauma, bullying, abuse, bereavement and depression. (3) Name the need openly and work on it directly with evidence-based treatment for any condition you find. (4) If a DR contains a deceased person, treat it as grief work.
  • Example language (illustrative): "In your DR you feel safe and wanted. When did you last feel that way here?"
  • Watch for: disclosures of abuse or harm, which bring safeguarding duties. It is working when the client starts getting some of what the DR offers in their current life.

4.11 Building a satisfying current reality

  • Purpose: reduce the pull towards escape by increasing reward, connection and mastery in the CR. Use it once risk is stable.
  • Steps: (1) Clarify the client's values, using what they love in the DR as clues. (2) Plan small activities in the CR that serve those values (behavioural activation). (3) Build real-world connection: friends, clubs, fandom groups that meet in person. (4) Schedule them and review progress.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You love the friendship and adventure in your DR. What's one small step this week towards a bit more of that here?"
  • Watch for: activities that feel like a punishment, which means you should go back to the client's own values. It is working when time in the CR feels more rewarding and shifting drops on its own.

4.12 Working with imagination and scripts as reflective or creative material

  • Purpose: when shifting is not harmful, a client's DR and script can be used like any personal narrative to explore wishes, identity and values. Use it only when risk is low and the client wants to.
  • Steps: (1) Invite the client to describe themes in their script (who they are, what they can do, who loves them). They should not share content they want to keep private. (2) Reflect identity themes and connect them to current-life goals. (3) Encourage creative outlets (writing, art, fan fiction) that keep imagination as a chosen activity. (4) Do not help write, improve or rehearse scripts for shifting.
  • Example language (illustrative): "In your script you're brave and people trust you. What would it look like to grow a little of that here?"
  • Watch for: script work increasing preoccupation or time spent. If so, return to 4.3. It is working when themes become goals.

4.13 Online use, parasocial dependence and digital literacy

  • Purpose: shifting spreads through creator content and community forums [source: i-D; Somer et al. 2023]. Use this when online content drives distress, pressure or spending.
  • Steps: (1) Map the client's feeds, favourite creators and communities. (2) Explore attachments to creators who feel like close friends or guides (parasocial dependence). (3) Practise digital literacy: who makes this content, how they benefit, what pressures it creates (for example, claims that "failure" means you are doing it wrong). (4) Look for paid courses, coaching or subliminal products, and for spending. (5) Ask about contact with adults online and about pressure to share private details, which is a safeguarding concern with minors. (6) Agree on how to curate the feed, for example muting content that triggers distress or permanence talk.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Which creators do you watch most? How do you feel after watching them?"
  • Watch for: conspiracy-style beliefs entering through adjacent content [uncertain: no study of shifting and conspiracy content verified], isolation from offline friends, and secrecy. It is working when the client uses content more selectively and feels less pressure.

4.14 Working with carers and safeguarding young people

  • Purpose: many practitioners are teenagers [source: i-D; Somer et al. 2023]. Carers often ask for help when they discover shifting. Use this with minors and with families who ask.
  • Steps: (1) Agree confidentiality limits at the start: carers are told about safety risks. (2) Help carers respond with curiosity rather than mockery or bans. (3) Focus shared goals on sleep, mood, school, friendships and safety. (4) Teach carers the warning signs (fear, weakened sense of reality, drifting outside practice, talk of permanent leaving) [source: i-D; TimesLIVE 2023]. (5) Follow safeguarding procedures for risk of suicide, self-harm, abuse or online exploitation. (6) Never use any young person's name or online handle in shared documents. (7) Seek assent from the young person as well as carer consent.
  • Example language (illustrative), to a carer: "Shifting is something many young people explore online. The most helpful thing is to stay curious and keep talking, and let us know if it starts affecting sleep or safety."
  • Watch for: family conflict, with bans driving secrecy. It is working when the young person can talk openly with carers.

4.15 Referral and collaboration

  • Purpose: make sure the client gets the right specialist help.
  • Steps: (1) Urgent psychiatric referral for loss of reality testing, intrusive hallucinations, mania or imminent suicide risk. (2) Neurological or medical assessment for focal neurological signs, possible seizures, or a sudden change in perception [source: Blueprint]. (3) Specialist dissociation, OCD or sleep services as indicated. (4) Child and adolescent mental health services and safeguarding leads for minors at risk. (5) If the client wishes, involve faith or community figures they trust. Get consent for every referral and every contact with others.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'd like you to see a colleague who specialises in this kind of experience, so we can be sure we're giving you the right help. How does that sound?"
  • Watch for: a referral experienced as rejection. Present it as added support and keep the relationship going.

5. Handling problems

No source addresses therapy difficulties with shifting specifically. All guidance below is [synthesis] unless a source is tagged.

  • The client tests you or expects ridicule ("you'll think I'm crazy"). Name it: "Lots of people your age explore shifting. I'm not here to judge it; I want to understand it." Then ask open questions (4.1). Never laugh, roll your eyes or use "just" ("it's just imagination").
  • The client wants you to confirm shifting is real, or to say it isn't. Decline both kindly: "I can't tell you what's real about other realities. What I can do is help with what matters to you here, like your sleep and how you feel." Keep the focus on function and distress.
  • Rupture after you raised psychosis or risk. Repair openly: "When I asked about voices, it may have sounded like I think you're unwell. I ask everyone who has strong experiences, to make sure we look after you properly." Return to the client's goals.
  • The client says shifting is fine and wants no change. Respect that if there is no distress, impairment or risk. Agree to keep an eye on sleep and mood, and leave the door open. If there is harm, use motivational interviewing: explore ambivalence, reflect their own stated costs, and avoid arguing.
  • Non-adherence to sleep or activity plans. Shrink the step, check whether the plan was really the client's own, and look for what the night-time practice soothes (often loneliness or anxiety) so another source of comfort can be planned.
  • Overwhelm, fear or derealisation in session. Stop exploration, ground (4.5), slow down, and return to assessment of reality testing. Do not do in-session imaginal or trance work with this client group [synthesis].
  • Distress when shifts "fail". Name the self-blame, separate effort from self-worth, and explore pressure from creators who say failure means doing it wrong (4.13).
  • Escalating permanence talk, planned "last" shifts, or respawning content. Treat as a risk emergency (4.8). Follow safe-messaging principles in session and in records: no method discussion, no quoting online content, no dramatic framing. Involve carers and services as risk requires [source: TimesLIVE 2023 for the concept; synthesis for response].
  • Signs of psychosis or mania. Pause dissociation-focused or exploratory work and refer urgently [source: Blueprint]. Stay involved as a support while the assessment happens.
  • Compulsive use resembling maladaptive daydreaming. Use 4.3 and 4.4, set modest reduction goals, plan alternatives for trigger times, and treat comorbid anxiety or depression [source: Somer et al. 2017, for the construct].
  • Online peers undermining therapy ("therapists don't understand shifting"). Validate the client's loyalty to the community, avoid attacking it, and invite them to judge by their own wellbeing.
  • Carers demand a ban or a "cure". Work with the carer's fear, explain why curiosity keeps safety conversations open, and agree concrete shared targets (4.14).
  • Disclosure of abuse, exploitation or self-harm. Follow safeguarding procedures at once, and explain to the young person what will happen and why.
  • Spending on paid content or coaching. Map spending, explore pressure, and support decisions about stopping. Involve carers for minors.
  • The therapist's own reactions (boredom, scepticism, worry). Take them to supervision. Avoid sharing your own views on other realities. Self-disclosure about your own spiritual beliefs rarely helps here and can shift the frame [synthesis].
  • Role boundaries: do not shift, script or guide imaginal travel with the client, and do not recommend shifting methods or creators. The therapist is not a guide in the practice [synthesis].
  • Scope and ethics: practise within your competence, consult or refer for specialist areas such as dissociation, psychosis or child safeguarding, and protect confidentiality within its legal limits [synthesis].

Sources

Web sources:

Books and manuals:

  • American Psychiatric Association (2022). DSM-5-TR: Cultural Formulation Interview and "Religious or Spiritual Problem" [uncertain: not verified].
  • Somer, E. (2002), on maladaptive daydreaming, as cited in the Hungarian MDS-16 study [uncertain: not verified].
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