Victim Mentality

Changing your outlook to live a better life

Photo by Deleece Cook on Unsplash

We’ve all been there. We wake up some mornings with a bad attitude toward life. We feel the world is against us and wish people would treat us better. For most people, that sucky attitude passes as we get on with our lives.

However, what is it like to always feel like a victim and blame anything other than ourselves for our condition? This article is about victim mentality, especially in survivors of childhood violence, and how to change their outlook.

What is Victim Mentality?

A learned behavior, victim mentality, causes survivors to believe they have no control over what happens to them in their lives and that nothing they do matters. These survivors think bad things will always happen to them and that other people or their situation is to blame.

No doubt, survivors of childhood abuse were victims when they were children. There is absolutely no contesting that. But what about today? Can you change your outlook and behaviors today?

You will find victim mentality in people who have suffered complex trauma as the survivors struggle to understand who they are in the context of living through childhood trauma. These survivors might feel that no one understands their pain or what they are going through and deny the fact…