Am I suicidal or attention-seeking Quiz (A brief guide)

In the following guide, we will be discussing the topic: am I suicidal or attention-seeking quiz. We will follow through the signs of a person who seeks attention, causes of attention-seeking behavior in people, and a brief quiz to find out if you are suicidal or attention-seeking. In the end, we will also be answering some questions related to attention-seeking and its related aspects. 

Am I suicidal or attention-seeking quiz

The following quiz takes about a few minutes to complete and you can easily find out whether you are suicidal or seeking attention and validation from other people, by answering the questions. Try to answer them as honestly as possible and not to take too much time for any question. 

Instructions: 

The following questions will indicate if you are suicidal or attention-seeking. Read each question attentively and answer quickly and sincerely. Choose the option which is true for you most of the time and be as accurate as possible. 

Do you get more than five hours of uninterrupted sleep, consistently?

  • Yes – 0
  • No – 1

Do you usually fall asleep quickly?

  • Yes – 0
  • No – 1

Do you frequently feel hopelessness, despair, sadness, and worthlessness?

  • Yes – 1
  • No – 0

Is your appetite normal?

  • Yes – 0
  • No – 1

Do you often feel indecisive and difficulties in taking quick decisions for yourself?

  • Yes – 1
  • No – 0

Do you see yourself as someone worthwhile and deserving as someone else?

  • Yes – 0
  • No  – 1

Do you often contemplate death and harming yourself in any manner?

  • Yes – 1
  • No – 0

Do you enjoy your favorite hobbies and activities as earlier?

  • Yes – 0
  • No – 1

Do you enjoy the company of your loved ones as usual?

  • Yes – 0
  • No – 1

Do you often feel worried, anxious, and unable to manage overwhelming emotions on your own?

  • Yes – 1
  • No – 0

Do you often shut yourself out from the world and ghost people without warning?

  • Yes – 1
  • No – 0

If your score is three or above, there are high chances that you have suicidal ideations and tendencies. On the other hand, if your score is two or below, you might be seeking attention or validation from people around you. 

Attention-seeking behavior

Attention and validation is something every human being craves for. Humans have an innate need to be loved, valued, and appreciated deeply for who they are and to keep them connected. However, some people, irrespective of gender, seek attention and validation from other people around them, excessively. They crave attention and want to be in the center of everything that is happening around them. 

These people seek out attention in almost every circumstance or event they come across and sometimes this happens at the cost of detriment to their love life and their friends and family. The funny part being, sometimes these people don’t even realize they are craving and excessively seeking attention from their surroundings. 

Attention seeking in adults is a conscious or unconscious attempt to gain attention for the sake of validation or admiration from people around them. 

Attention-seeking behaviors

Attention-seeking behavior involves those behaviors that are exhibited by people who intend to satisfy their goal of getting the attention of a person or a group of people. Attention-seeking behaviors are mostly expressed by people who have low self-esteem problems and other similar kinds of personal issues. Some instances of attention-seeking behaviors are as given below:

  • Looking for compliments from other people around them by deliberately pointing about and talking extensively about one’s achievements and seeking validation.
  • Behaving controversially or picking up an argument in particular situations or with certain people to provoke a reaction from their side.
  • Exaggerating or embellishing their achievements, experiences, and opinions to gain validation, acceptance, and praise or sympathy. 
  • Pretending to not know something or expressing an inability to do something so that other people around them will teach, help, or make an attempt to do it. 

Causes of attention-seeking behavior

Attention-seeking behavior can be driven by many factors. Some of the most common factors are as follows:

  • Jealousy: jealousy drives an individual to feel frustrated, and left out. Hence, to compensate for these feelings, the person may engage in behaviors that are expressed for seeking attention from people in their surroundings or their loved ones. 
  • Low self-esteem: low self-esteem arises out of distorted views of oneself and it also inevitably leads to jealousy and other undesirable behaviors. People with low self-esteem find immense difficulty in validating themselves and in confidently expressing themselves. Hence, they try to gain excessive validation and attention from other people. 
  • Loneliness: Loneliness is another reason why people seek attention in various forms from various sources. Loneliness drives them to be excessively irritable, frustrated, and emotionally vulnerable. Thus, they try to engage in those behaviors that enable them to gain attention and validation from other people or situations. 
  • At certain times, attention-seeking behavior can also be the result of cluster-B personality disorders such as histrionic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. 

Features of cluster-B personality disorders 

Histrionic personality disorder

For an individual to be diagnosed with a histrionic personality disorder, they have to meet atleast five of the following criteria:

  • Gets uncomfortable and overwhelmed when not given constant attention
  • Engaging in proactive or seductive behaviors.
  • Experiencing dynamic, shallow, and irregular emotions consistently
  • Embellishing one’s appearance to draw other people’s attention and admiration
  • Using vague phrases and complex connotations while speaking to deliberately create a false impression in front of others.
  • Exaggerated or dramatic emotional burst out and behaviors
  • Appears to be highly suggestible and gullible
  • Have a tendency to treat relationships more intimate and personal than they are.

Borderline personality disorder

A borderline personality disorder is characterized by consistent irregularity and consistent patterns of instability in self-image, interpersonal relationships, emotion, and impulsivity. 

For an individual to be diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, he or she must display at least five of the following criteria:

  • Makes desperate efforts to avoid imagined or real-life abandonment.
  • A pattern of intense and unstable relationships between devaluation and idealization.
  • A distorted and unstable sense of self or self-image.
  • Engaging in potentially self-harming or self-damaging, harmful, and impulsive behaviors
  • Chronic feelings of emptiness
  • Intense anger burst out and tantrums that are difficult to process and manage. 
  • Stress-related paranoia or disassociation.

Narcissistic personality disorder

For an individual to be diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder, he or she must display at least five of the following symptoms:

  • A grandiose sense of self-love and importance
  • Constant preoccupation with fantasies of power, unlimited success, brilliance, ideal love, and beauty
  • An unfair demand for excessive admiration and attention
  • A sense of entitlement and an unfair demand for favorable treatment or automatic compliance with their expectations and opinions
  • Highly envious of other people’s achievements and holds a false belief that others are envious of them as well.
  • Lack of empathy for feelings and emotions of other people and also unwillingness to recognize the needs and thoughts of others. 

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed the topic: am I suicidal or attention-seeking quiz. We started with a brief quiz to find out if you are suicidal or attention-seeking, examined the meaning, nature, causes, and corresponding features of each personality disorder that correlates to attention-seeking behaviors. 

FAQs: am I suicidal or attention-seeking quiz

Is attention-seeking a mental illness?

Yes, attention-seeking behavior is a mental illness when it starts affecting the daily functioning and mental stability of an individual. In such cases, it is known as a borderline personality disorder. People suffering from borderline personality disorder often experience dramatic, erratic, and attention-seeking moods. 

How can I stop being an attention-seeker?

The best way to stop an attention-seeker from indulging in attention-seeking behaviors is by showing zero interest in them. This is because, when no one is bothering to pay them the attention they crave, they automatically tend to stop, after a point. 

Another way is to have a good conversation with them and try finding out what is causing them to indulge int these behaviors. This might also help them to gain insight into their toxic behaviors and attitudes. This method is best when you have a close bond with the person and they are willing to talk openly with you. You could also try suggesting the idea of seeking professional help of a therapist or a counselor to them. 

What is a histrionic narcissist?

Narcissistic personality and histrionic personality, both come under cluster B personality disorders. These personality disorders are characterized by patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving in erratic and unpredictable ways. These individuals, who suffer from this personality disorder, also indulge in actions or behaviors that are considered dramatic and impulsive by other people.

 

References

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/who-does-it-affect/men/mind-quiz

https://www.vixendaily.com/quizzes/quiz-attention-seeker/

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/attention-seeking-behavior#examples

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