Escapism is mental diversion from unpleasant or boring aspects of daily life, typically through activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism also may be used to occupy one's self away from persistent feelings of depression or general sadness.
If you're an escapist, you might avoid thinking about unpleasant things by playing video games for hours. Some escapists can withdraw into their own heads, distracting themselves with daydreams. Other escapists retreat from the world into movies, television, books, games, alcohol, or even exercise.
The American Psychology Association defines escapism as the tendency to escape from the real world to the safety and comfort of a fantasy world. Since life is innately stressful, coping strategies are essential to making it through each day.
A person's escapism might consist of playing video games, reading books, or fantasizing about living in a foreign country. Some see escapism as negative, hiding an underlying sadness or depression, while others insist that everyone indulges in escapism to some extent.
Evans distinguished productive and “unhealthy” escapism, outlining the following indicators of unhealthy escapism: procrastination, psychosis, denial (leading to rejection of social norms, rigid personal stance on life and isolation) and addiction (inability to control habits).
Escapism in the form of self-suppression stems from motives to run away from unpleasant thoughts, self-perceptions, and emotions, whereas self-expansion stems from motives to gain positive experiences through the activity and to discover new aspects of self.
Attending movies, listening to the radio, dancing to live music, and reading cheap magazines or books containing sensational or gruesome material, popularly known as pulp fiction, allowed people to escape from the uncertainties, anxieties, and loss of self esteem associated with the Depression years.
Dimensions of escapism
The Escapism scale (Stenseng et al., 2012) was used to measure two sets of escapism motives: Self-Suppression and Self-Expansion.
Dissociation is often considered a coping or defence mechanism, a way of tolerating stress, boredom or conflict. For some people, dissociation is a form of extreme escapism.
Dissociation. Dissociation is one of the most powerful defense mechanisms. Psychology surrounding dissociation centers on escapism – mentally separating yourself from your body (depersonalization) or environment (derealization) – to distance yourself from overwhelming experiences.
Escapism is another word for making yourself emotionally numb. Many individuals who have suffered a trauma have difficulty coping with the flashbacks and intense emotional pain. For them, busyness can be a healthier alternative to other escapism activities.
It can help reduce stress
This is perhaps one of the most common reasons we turn to escapism. Getting lost in a favourite book, daydreaming while listening to a song or playing a video game can all help us switch off, release tension and reduce stress.
Sometimes we indulge for entertainment. Other times we are looking for a distraction from the daily grind. In most instances, escapism isn't harmful. The problem occurs when we escape a little too often for a little too long, or when escaping interferes with our daily life.
The Chronic Stress Stage: Characterized by early signs of burnout such as chronic fatigue, physical sickness, irritation, and despair. The Burnout Crisis Stage: Your physical symptoms intensify and multiply, you obsess over work difficulties, and you develop an “escapist mentality.”
Background: Escapism is a tendency to seek escape and distraction from reality or real-life problems. Past research regards escapism as a negative inducement that leads to adverse consequences when combined with substance use and other addictive activities.
Escapism is momentary and brief, reinvigorates us and helps us to return to reality with renewed strength to face our challenges. Avoidance however is when we're using escapism to consciously or unconsciously ignore a problem or feelings that we're uncomfortable experiencing.
If you have a tendency to daydream (a lot), then you could be an escapist. Escapists are people who want to create their own reality whilst they go about their daily routine.
Escapist tendencies are often a symptom of procrastination—but they're not necessarily the same. Procrastination, like escapism, doesn't need to be an inherently bad thing—all it needs is a deeper look into why it's happening so you're better prepared to manage it.
The psychology of escapism takes into account an important consideration: the desire to escape may be a response to a stimulus, like stress, danger, or adversity, but it also could be a calculated response to emotional survival.
Depersonalization, derealization, amnesia and identity confusion can all be thought of as efforts at self-regulation when affect regulation fails. Each psychological adaptation changes the ability of the person to tolerate a particular emotion, such as feeling threatened.
Dissociation might be a way to cope with very stressful experiences. You might experience dissociation as a symptom of a mental health problem, for example post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder.