The Victim Mentality – What It Is and Why You Use It
What is a ‘Victim Mentality’?
Having a a ‘victim mentality’ means you blame your challenges in life on others around you, even if you can’t prove their negative actions.
You might also blame many things on circumstances, which you see as always unfair.
Being a Victim vs Self Pity vs Victim Mentality
Bad things can happen in life. You might be the victim of a crime, such as fraud or even sexual assault. In such a case you have every right to feel that things were out of your control, because they were, and any thought that it’s somehow your fault and you are responsible is erroneous thinking.
It’s also perfectly normal to feel sorry for yourself every once in a while, or feel powerless in the face of a challenge like a bereavement or divorce.
But if you have a victim mentality, you will see your entire life through a perspective that things constantly happen ‘to’ you. Victimisation is thus a combination of seeing most things in life as negative, beyond your control, and as something you should be given sympathy for experiencing as you ‘deserve’ better. At its heart, a victim mentality is actually a way to avoid taking any responsibility for yourself or your life. By believing you have no power then you don’t have to take action.
A healthy person, on the other hand, recognises that beyond random bad occurrences, many things in life happen because of choices they themselves made, and that they have power to choose differently. And they understand that when misfortune does happen, it is nothing to do with personal value or ‘deserving’ or ‘not deserving’.
[Not sure you do or don’t have a victim mentality? Sign up for alerts so you don’t miss our upcoming connected piece, ‘How to Tell if You Have a Victim Mentality’].
Why would I choose to always be a victim?
By: super awesome
Constantly acting a victim can actually have a lot of perks. These can look like the following:
- you don’t have take responsibility for things
- you have the ‘right’ to complain and receive attention
- others feel sorry for you and give you attention
- people are less likely to criticise or upset you
- others feel compelled to help you and do what you ask for
- you can tell stories about the things that happened to you and seem interesting
- there is no time to be bored because there is so much drama in your life
- you can avoid ever feeling anger as you are too busy being sad and upset.
If you look at the above statements, you might already see the pattern of what the true benefits of being a victim can be. They are:
- attention,
- feeling valued,
- power.
The Secret Power Behind Being a Victim
Surprised that playing the victim gives you power, because you’ve convinced yourself that your life is so awful you have no power at all? This is what a victim tells his or herself.
But having others feel sorry for you can easily be a way to manipulate them into meeting your needs and wants. This can be something small, like someone always going to the shops for you, or can be deeper and more insidious, such as meaning your ‘poor me’ act leaves another forced to treat you nicely and never yell at you, or to not leave you even if they feel they should.
An example of victimhood as a form of power is a codependent relationship, such as the one between an alcoholic and their partner. The ‘caregiver’ can play a victim, putting up with the alcoholic’s terrible behaviour and sacrificing their own needs to care for them, only to one day use guilt, complaints, and ‘poor me’ tirades to then attempt to control the alcoholic.
By: Jeremy Tenenbaum
On a darker note, the role of victim can also be a common way for abusers to take power, called ‘playing the victim’ in psychology. A less unconscious form of victimhood, this can look like an abuser who constantly puts their partner down then fixates on the one time the abused party snapped back and called them a monster, making out that they are in fact the ‘attacked’ one. Or an abuser will say that it’s not their fault they hit the other person when that person is so annoying and stupid and they have to ‘put up with them’. In this way an abuser uses the ‘poor me’ mentality to defend their sociopathic behaviour.
Why am I the sort of person who plays the victim?
What makes you more likely to be the sort that lives your life from a victim mentality?
Like most behavioural patterns, a victim mentality is a learned behaviour that can be traced back to childhood.
You could have learned to play victim because you watched the adults around you doing so. It your mother or father, for example, always felt the world was out to get them and complained daily about all the people who wronged them, you would take on board this was the way to gain personal power and attention.
It’s possible you had a codependent relationship with one of your parents. You would have felt responsible for their wellbeing, either taking care of a sick (mentally or physically) parent, or being led to believe you are in charge of their happiness. The message a child can take on here is that not only do you have to ‘earn’ love, but that if you are sick or weak others take care of you. Both can lead to patterns of victimisation as an adult.
Or, you might have learned to be a victim because it was a way to survive your childhood. As a child, we all require attention and love, and if it’s not offered freely by our caregivers, we are left to find ways to receive it. Perhaps, in your family home, the only way to receive attention and care was to be sick, or to act weak, or to allow bad things to happen to you.
Many people who live life from a victim mentality were sufferers of abuse as a childhood. This is often sexual abuse. The helplessness a child feels, combined with the deep shame abuse causes, can mean you grow into an adult who has no self-esteem and who sees the world as a dangerous place they are lost in.
What should I do if I recognise that I suffer from victimisation?
On a good note, because a victim mentality is a learned behaviour, you can indeed ‘unlearn’ it.
It is, however, a process which takes time and can be quite intense, especially if it is connected to childhood trauma like abuse or neglect.
And dealing with victimisation means you must then face the anger, sadness, shame and fear that playing the victim protects and hides you from.
It is therefore recommended to seek support when dealing with facing your victim mentality. A trained and experienced counsellor or psychotherapist can create a safe, non-judgemental space for you to explore why you act a victim, and what childhood events led to such behaviour as an adult. They will then help you learn new ways of thinking and seeing the world that are more helpful to you.
Do you have a question about victim mentality? Ask below, we love hearing from you.
Im concerned for my son. How can i get the right help for him.
It’s important to tell someone you feel they need help in the right way or they can move further away from you and other support. We’ve written a great article about letting a loved one know they might need help – read it here http://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/tell-friend-loved-one-need-counselling.htm
Omg. I had no idea what I was doing. Yes, I’ve had unfortunate things happen to me but I realize bad choices and just plain lack of knowledge! Thanks soo much. This the nicest way I’ve encountered of setting a victim straight!
Glad to be of help!
janette
I’m in a relationship with a sex addict. He says the things he did aren’t so bad they could of been worse. He minimizes what he did. He says my grief and anger are wrong. I’m not allowed to talk about how I feel and work through my emotions. He uses gas lighting techniques to control situations. And make it seem like I am unstable. I think I have gotten stuck in a victim mentality. And can’t seem to figure out how to have a voice and explain what has happened to me without coming across as a victim. I have been victimized. I want that to be validated by my husband. Which he refuses to do. Or is just simply unable to do. I spent 5 weeks away from him. Now I’m back. And had my old feelings of being controlled and having to do everything according to his timing his way. I’m supper anxious. How do I deal with this in an emotionally healthy way.
Hi Janette, thanks for sharing this. The thing with relationships is that they are two ways, so you both need to want to work in the same direction. Without knowing you or your husband, or exactly the details of what has happened, we can’t say what direction that is. But if you have a lot of sadness and anger and feel lost, are developing anxiety, and feel unable to leave a situation that is making you unhappy, then it is definitely a good idea to seek support. Would you consider counselling?
I just wanted to say that it’s nice that you guys take what other people judge and rather than judging, you guys try to help people get out of the unhealthy thinking pattern instead. Unfortunately for me, the victim mentality or being a hero are seemingly the only two ways I really know how to get close to people and make friends, but it’s definitely something I’m working on
Thanks for this. We do try to help! It sounds like you have real clarity on what you are dealing with which is good and means you are already on your way forward (even if if it doesn’t always feel like it, personal growth can so often feel circular!). Victim/hero can be a tough pattern, often coming from ways of relating learned as a child. For example, if your parents rewarded you for being ‘good/strong/quiet’ but you didn’t feel loved and accepted on days you were sad or upset, and of course if a parent was not well mentally/physically and as a child you were a caretaker. If you are finding it really hard to breakthrough, this issue is more than enough to seek counselling over, should you so desire. While progress can be made with self help books and research (Codependent No More is a classic and worth reading although you might have already), support makes the process way faster. We wish you courage!
My husband suffers from victim mentality and it’s draining me so much that the thoughts of leaving him flow through my mind almost daily. We have a child together so I rather try to fix the situation before I choose to leave but he refuses counseling and ignores me when I try to help. My concerns are that our daughter will develop this mentality or that he may snap one day and hurt someone. Can you make any suggestions??
I think the victim mentality fits my younger sister. I’m borderline. How can I help her realize she is walling herself up inside a victim mindset and not come across like I am picking on her? She is raw. She cannot afford counseling. If I bought her a book to work through she would turn her back on me for months, even years. I would be the monster and this will make me feel rejected.
Unfortunately we can’t make someone go to therapy or change. The only person we have power over is ourselves. This can feel really hard when a child is involved and our dream of a happy family unit is feeling a nightmare. But what would happen if you took the focus off of all that is wrong with your husband and put your focus and energy on you? What is there to find there? What has led you be in this relationship in the first place, for example? What is keeping you there, beyond having a child? There feels to be a lot more going on here, and it’s to do with you, not your husband. Hope that helps.
Hi Mary, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately you can’t change the way someone thinks or feels, they have to decide they want to change. Really we can only accept people as they are and take it from there. And the only actions we can change our our own. So the focus has to be on you, not your sister, otherwise it’s energy wasted. So you can only look at how you act and respond around her, and go from there. And if truly is borderline traits that are sabotaging your relationship with your sister, it’s a good idea to seek professional help. Schema therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy are two great therapies for BPD. Hope that helps.
Hello,
I am writing my own story about my cancer journey and what I’ve learned along the way. I would love to use your definition of a victim (specifically the first paragraph in italics on this website) in my chapter on the types of patients. Would you consider this request?
Thanks for the consideration. Jan
Hi Jan, if it’s for print, you can quote us and just attribute it to us. If your article is for online, we are generally okay with small amounts of our content being used as long as it is quoted and listed as from Harley Therapy, with a link back to the piece. Otherwise we do chase up people for duplicate content! Thanks, and good luck with writing your story.
I want to say I suffer from having a victim mentality. But in saying that does that make me looking more like a victim? I’ve gone to a lot of emotional mental and physical abuse as a child but the year the sexual abuse I feel is haunting me. I want to change and so many ways but I don’t know how. I’ve been in a relationship that in a couple days we will have been together for a year. It’s been a rough year he stuck by me and stuck through things with me that most would have ran for the hills for. I appreciate his insight but at the same time I despise it. He believes I could b a overt narcissist. A lot of Articles I’ve read about this topic says that narcissist can’t change. Particularly this kind of narcissist. If they can’t recognize it or take accountability. I have a lot of Errors of thinking in my mind and I really want to change what do I do?
First of all, it’s an opinion that some diagnosis makes someone unable to change, and not one we’d agree with. Second of all, it’s quite harsh that a partner is trying to diagnose you. Is he a psychiatrist? If not, how can he give a mental health diagnosis? Finally, if you were a covert narcissist, it’s unlikely you’d be googling trying to find help. We all have narcissist traits (traits being very different than narcissistic personality disorder) at times. It’s called being human. And if we have experienced trauma we can have these traits to protect our fear of being hurt again. As for saying you have the victim mentality, not at all. As what you are doing by recognising that is facing yourself and aiming to take back your power. What to do? Reach out for proper support. Sexual abuse leaves the best of us with misguided coping patterns that are simply too hard to break alone. A professional therapist will create a non judgemental space for you and they are not invested in your choices like your partner is, they only are invested in your improvement. Google for a therapist with experience with abuse survivors. If you are on a low budget, ask if they offer sliding scale. We wish you courage!
I still have no idea whether I have a victim mentality. My childhood was tough. I was regularly beaten and called names. I was constantly told my life was worthless. So I grew up, never learned to trust anybody. I never had any relationship. I developed crushes and was regularly heartbroken when my crushes fell for others. So, I blame my parents. I constantly suspected even my best friends and lost one friend after another. So, I blame my parents. I developed a habit of confessing some friends about my problems. They left, one after another. So, I blame my parents. Is that a victim mentality? I think yes.
But whatever happened, happened. I am a survivor, not a victim. I have a choice. I have a choice to tell my crushes how I feel about them. I have a choice to keep my unfounded suspensions to myself. I have a choice not to rant and annoy my friends with my endless problems. I always have a choice.
So far, it’s the best article I have read. Other articles show no compassion and try to blame the people with victim mentality, labeling them as “toxic” or whatever. Nobody does so deliberately. A little compassion goes a long way.
We are so glad to hear that this article was useful. That means a lot to us. When we read what you write, it sounds like there is a lot of intellectualising, like you have sorted it out in your head. But the thing about trauma is that it needs to be experienced, felt, not just understood intellectually. Otherwise we are left being really hard on ourselves, for understanding something but still not being able to be some perfect person we imagine we should be. Yes, you have choices now. But as children we don’t. And that child inside of us needs to have her misery, rage, and fear heard. You are not toxic. You are human and hurting from what we sense. We are not here to push therapy down anyone’s throat, but we just want to say that if you did have the courage to try, it does create a really safe container to let all those feelings out, without fear of being rejected or told you are toxic or annoying. A therapist understands that you are just hurting and processing and that you are actually a powerful, interesting person who just has some issues to work through. We wish you courage.