23 Signs You’re Suffering From a Victim Mentality

At some point in life, we are all victimized. Whether as children, teenagers, or adults, we all suffer emotional, physical, or psychological abuse to varying degrees.

While it’s important that we come to terms with what has happened to us, and that we have indeed been victimized, we cannot move on with our lives unless we step out of the victim role and into the survivor role.

Having a victim mentality goes far beyond the experience of being victimized. When we carry a victim mentality, we are basically filtering our entire existence through a narrow mental lens that we have adopted as our primary way of perceiving the world.

What is a Victim Mentality?

Victim mentality is a psychological term that refers to a type of dysfunctional mindset which seeks to feel persecuted in order to gain attention or avoid self-responsibility. People who struggle with the victim mentality are convinced that life is not only beyond their control, but is out to deliberately hurt them. This belief results in constant blame, finger-pointing, and pity parties that are fuelled by pessimism, fear, and anger.

Simply put, having a victim mentality means that you blame other people and circumstances for the unhappiness you feel.

How Self-Victimization Develops

No one is born with a victim mentality, just as no one is born clinically depressed or anxious. Instead, the victim mentality is an acquired personality trait, meaning that it is the result of early life conditioning and coping mechanisms.

Most victims were victimized in some way as children, whether that be through physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or psychological abuse. Self-victimization can also develop through codependent relationships we had with our parents, or simply by observing and adopting the unhealthy victim mentality exhibited by one or more of our family members.

However, although what happens to us as children is completely beyond our control, it is our responsibility as adults to step into our power and reclaim responsibility for our happiness.

9 Benefits of Being a Victim

Playing the victim actually has a number of juicy perks. These rewards make it very difficult to break out of such a mindset, which is why most victims seem to be so emotionally invested in perpetuating this type of toxic behavior.

Some of the perks include the following:

• Not having to take responsibility for anything
• Other people lavishing you with attention
• Other people feeling sorry for you
• Other people are less likely to criticize or upset you
• You have the “right” to complain
• You’re more likely to get what you want
• You feel interesting because you get to tell people all of your stories
• You don’t have to feel bored because there’s too much drama going on
• You get to avoid and bypass anger because you’re too busy feeling sad

Can you see some underlying patterns starting to emerge here?

Playing the victim actually gives you a lot of power: power to avoid responsibility, power to feel “righteously” sad and persecuted, power to avoid uncomfortable emotions, and power to manipulate other people.

The Dark Side of Playing the Victim

The majority of people who play the victim do so unconsciously, or unintentionally. Even so, the victim role does involve a tremendous amount of manipulation and string-pulling. People in relationships or friendships with victims often report feeling like puppets who mold into whatever the victim believes they are or wants them to be.

Having other people feel sorry for you is an easy way to wrap them around your little finger. This unconscious craving to control others through their sympathies is really only a way for the mind to reinforce its belief in the “I’m a victim” ego identity. There is a lot of comfort and artificial “safety” in playing the victim identity. Not only does it reward you with not having to take responsibility for any of your behavior (because “other people” are always responsible), but it also prevents you from feeling uncomfortable emotions like guilt and anger, while at the same time making you feel “cared for” by others.

Playing the victim is also often used by abusive and/or sociopathic people who use this role to keep a tight emotional leash on those close to them. For example, a narcissistic person might constantly put down their partner, then fixate on the one time their partner snapped and called them a “monster,” making it seem like they are in fact the “abused one.” Or a physically abusive person might use the excuse that they “always have to put up with the other person” as a reason for beating up their partner.

As we can see, the “poor me” attitude can be used on both sides of the human spectrum: both seemingly “normal” people and more extreme and dysfunctional psychopathic people. For example, in codependent relationships, self-victimization can be used by the enabler and the abuser, and sometimes both at the same time in a kind of power struggle.

There is no one “type” of person that fits into the victim role, so it’s wrong to say that only narcissists or sociopaths adopt this role. I have personally seen all types of people play this role: from sweet old grandmothers to teenagers, mothers, fathers, professionals, and even “spiritually awakened” people.

23 Signs of the Victim Mentality

Are you, or is someone you love, playing the victim? Here are some common signs to look out for:

• You’re constantly blaming other people or situations for feeling miserable
• You possess a “life is against me” philosophy
• You’re cynical or pessimistic
• You see your problems as catastrophes and blow them out of proportion
• You think others are purposely trying to hurt you
• You believe you’re the only one being targeted for mistreatment
• You keep reliving past painful memories that made you feel like a victim
• Even when things go right, you find something to complain about
• You refuse to consider other perspectives when talking about your problems
• You feel powerless and unable to cope effectively with a problem or life in general
• You feel attacked when you’re given constructive criticism
• You believe you’re not responsible for what happens in your life (others are)
• You believe that everyone is “better off” than you
• You seem to enjoy feeling sorry for yourself
• You attract people like you (who complain, blame, and feel victimized by life)
• You believe that the world is a scary, mostly bad, place
• You enjoy sharing your tragic stories with other people
• You have a habit of blaming, attacking, and accusing those you love for how you feel
• You feel powerless to change your circumstances
• You expect to gain sympathy from others, and when you don’t get it, you feel upset
• You refuse to analyze yourself or improve your life
• You tend to “one-up” people when it comes to sharing traumatic experiences
• You’re constantly putting yourself down

As we can see, the permanent sense of being a victim is deeply destructive both internally, and externally.

How to Stop Being a Victim

If you’re reading this article because you suspect that you might be clinging to a victim mentality, here are some tips that can help you step out of this toxic role:

1. Start replacing “you” with “I”

For example, instead of saying “you make me feel so angry,” you can replace that statement with, “I feel so angry when I hear you say that.” This simple trick can help you learn to take more self-responsibility for your happiness.

2. See yourself as a survivor

A victim argues with life, a survivor embraces it. A victim dwells in the past, a survivor lives in the present. A victim believes they’re helpless, a survivor takes back control over their life. Although the victim mentality is addictive, the survivor mentality is much more empowering in the long term. Once you start seeing yourself as a survivor, you’ll begin to feel better about life and you’ll attract other people for the right reasons. Listening to a survivor is much more refreshing and inspiring than listening to a victim wallow in self-pity.

3. Be kind and compassionate towards yourself

In other words, be careful about becoming a victim of being a victim! This role isn’t something you choose: you developed it as a result of childhood conditioning. Be gentle with yourself and practice self-love. Explore your core wounds and core beliefs that compound your victim identity, and replace self-loathing with self-compassion. If you’re struggling to get past the victim role, practice self-care by seeing a therapist. Experiment with practices such as journaling, affirmations, NLP, CBT, and other forms of self-love.

4. Explore your mistaken beliefs

Mistaken beliefs create anxiety, depression, anger, and blame. We explore the twelve different types of mental traps here. You will probably be stunned by how many types of mistaken beliefs you have unknowingly adopted!

5. Ask “What thought is creating this suffering?”

All suffering originates in beliefs that go unquestioned and unexamined in our minds. When we attach to these thoughts, we suffer. Remember that you don’t need to believe the thoughts in your head: thoughts are simply fluctuations of energy that we assign meaning to. Practicing meditation can help you notice how transient thoughts are.

6. Practice being thankful

Gratitude is a simple but powerful way to remind yourself that life is not as miserable as you perceive it to be. Each day, try to find ten things that you’re thankful for. You might like to keep a gratitude journal in which you write these ten things down, or simply name them mentally. Try to feel sincerely thankful for having these things.

7. Affirm self-responsibility

Start to notice all the ways you bypass responsibility. Be ruthlessly honest and examine how gaining sympathy from others makes you feel special and continues the cycle of pointing the finger at others. You might like to use an affirmation such as “I am responsible for my life” or “I am empowered to create change” to help you reprogram this unconscious need to play the victim. You might also like to do something that builds your confidence and actually shows you that you’re capable … or reflect on something in the past that you overcame successfully.

8. Perform an act of kindness for another

When we play the victim we tend to be solely focused on ourselves. Get yourself out of your head by doing something nice for another person you love. Realizing that you can feel good without manipulating another person is an important way to cut the addiction the self-victimization.

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The victim mentality can be truly insidious and destructive to personal relationships and self-esteem. But through applying the advice in this article, hopefully you will feel inspired and empowered rather than victimized by what is happening to you.

I’d love to hear any thoughts you have about this topic below.