As people have pointed out, I constantly crave attention and validation on a “pathological level”. People have said I’m a covert narcissist, most likely, and I constantly feel like I NEED to post to get my feelings out and have the attention on me, then I delete it when I don’t get that validation. I constantly have to explain to others why I’m right rather than take accountability because I start to spiral and hate myself if I don’t. However, someone said I don’t have it because I don’t bully others when I don’t get what I want.
I also feel like I may be too self-aware for it, though I don’t generally like or care enough to look inside myself and have to think hard about it just to reach a conclusion about who I am.
one finds out by talking to a specialist, instead of random people on the internet.
Understandable, I didn’t mean to ask for you to diagnose, I was just wondering how I find out
and i answered that. people are terrible at diagnosing themselves. even if someone gives you some criteria, it is hard to put them in the context if you don’t have the experience and comparison with others. that is the job for the professional.
If you are asking this question, you aren’t one.
You sound like you have shitty friends. Shitty people in your life will try to negatively label you to manipulate you. My abusive partners would always try to diagnose me as a form of leverage to win arguments and keep me down, because they were insecure jerks who couldn’t meet me as an equal.
I’m curious if OP will delete this post.
Best way would probably to be properly diagnosed. There’s a lot of overlap between different disorders and it’s probably not the best to try and diagnose yourself. The Internet can be really harsh at times so relying on social media for validation probably isn’t going to help anything. Keep level headed, nonjudgmental people close to you.
What was the last time something bad happened and it was completely YOUR fault?
You sound a lot like an angsty teen with undiagnosed autism. I went through similar scenarios when I was a teen. A few things to consider
If you’re actually right, you shouldn’t really need to explain yourself. The truth should be evident.
If you’re explaining why you’re right to someone, what do you gain by convincing them? And does that justify the effort to convince them? You may be denying them that same gain by not conceding they are right.
Emotions can alter the landscape and motives might not be pure. If you’ve continually berated someone and harangued them about how you’re right, they might just argue with you to deny you that validation.
Angsty 22-year-old with diagnosed autism but yeah…
Which is perfectly fine. Looking through your post history you seem to have a lot of posts just trying to make sense of life. That’s a good thing as long as you don’t expect answers to be very neat and logical solutions to your problems.
Personality issues are also on a spectrum, and most people slide a degree or few back and forth from their baseline. That said, if you think you want to more know about personality disorders, look at spectrum a, b, c. But I really feel that’s kind of jumping the gun/half the story. You can save yourself plenty of time and flailing if you first look at attachment theory and explore your attachment style before placing yourself on the spectrum. That said, I’m not a licensed clinical counselor, and neither are you, so if it’s been a pervasive pattern, you may want to seek behavioral health assistance and decide if pharmaceutical support is right for your personal circumstances.
Thank you!! I am definitely anxious attachment
Oh girl! Do yourself a favor and get busy on loving you the way you want to be loved, and it may take a while journaling and/or some talk therapy, if possible. And don’t lean too far in for your first handful of diagnoses (or be upset or too skeptical). A therapist in the US must assign a dx within a couple or few visits, so it’s a working dx. The less substances you use for 30/60/90 so they can get a baseline of behavior/thoughts/feelings without those influnces, the better.
PS: you’re welcome, good luck!
The DSM-5 has 9 criteria, and if you meet any 5 of the 9, you have NPD. https://npdtest.org/blog/what-are-the-9-official-dsm-5-criteria-for-narcissistic-personality-disorder-npd The fact that you’re questioning whether you are a narcissist tends to point to you not being one. If the people around you are telling you that you crave attention on a pathological level, it may well be gaslighting or projection from the people around you, as narcissists love to deflect and find fault with others.
Concentrate on your experience. You don’t need a diagnosis or clinical jargon to understand yourself.
I constantly crave attention and validation on a “pathological level
There are multiple reasons to crave attention, it can be because you genuinely have not received as much attentiom as your peers! Doesn’t have to be narcissism
The best way to answer this is to see a psychologist. They can actually diagnose you. Just bc you’re self aware doesn’t mean you can’t be one or even that you’re less likely to be a narcissist. There are some that are self aware and use that knowledge to their advantage. If you truly think you might be a narcissist then seeing a psychologist is the best thing to do. Your doctor might also be able to make a recommendation
I feel like it would be a win/win for someone to stalk you.
You get the attention, and the stalker gets soneone to take notice of from the bushes, without someone calling the police on them.
That is a fucked thing to say
