Verified by Psychology Today
Verified by Psychology Today
In the imperfect world we inhabit, it is not uncommon to experience treatment that is hurtful or unfair. It’s tempting to hold on to grievances over slights and even greater harms. However, doing so keeps you bathed in negative feelings; worse, it can keep you from getting what you really want in life. How prone are you to seeing yourself as a victim?
This test is for anyone who has trouble letting go of past wounds or believes that others have a fairer shake in life. It is not intended to be diagnostic.
If you think that a victim mindset is limiting you professionally, you can speak to a mental health professional about ways to actively address that. You can find someone in the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.
The tendency for interpersonal victimhood: The personality construct and its consequences. Personality and Individual Difference. 2020. Rahav Gabay, Boaz Hameiri, Tammy Rubel-Lifschitz, Arie Nadler.
Procedural and Distributive Justice Beliefs for Self and Others: Assessment of a Four-Factor Individual Differences Model. Journal of Individual Differences 2011. Todd Luca, Ludmila Zhdanova, and Sheldon Alexander.
Cognitive Attitudes and Biases of Victim Mentality. Changing Societies & Personalities, 2021. Olga O. Andronnikova and Sergey I. Kudinov.
When we fall prey to perfectionism, we think we’re honorably aspiring to be our very best, but often we’re really just setting ourselves up for failure, as perfection is impossible and its pursuit inevitably backfires.