What is fantasy?
Do you ever think about winning the lottery? How would you spend the money? Where would you go? This is one example of a fantasy. A fantasy is something that is imagined.
Why do people have fantasies?
Fantasies can be about a range of different things and everybody will have their own reasons for engaging in a fantasy. For some people, a fantasy will give them better confidence and a sense of control over a situation by letting them rehearse how they will deal with a situation.
For other people, it might be a way to release stress (escapism) or a way to experience things that they wouldn’t in everyday life (that lottery win). Negative fantasies can be a way that people try to cope and prepare themselves for something they fear will happen, or a way of punishing themselves. Some people use sexual fantasies as a form of sexual outlet, often if they are not meeting their sexual needs within a relationship.
A fantasy can have:
- positive outcomes: for example imagining achieving an award or winning a competition.
- negative outcomes: for example if a partner does not return home on time, imaging that they have been in a car accident.
Some fantasies are:
- planned, rehearsed and used repeatedly by a person, for example scoring a world cup goal.
- triggered by an emotional response or something that happens, for example replaying bad day at work.
Sometimes a person’s thoughts stray and it takes them a short time to realise they are fantasising and not doing what they are supposed to be doing.