Some personality problems, like abandonment issues or low IQ, I think of as due to genetics or adverse childhood events not the fault of the person…other traits like being a person who litters or being greedy I think of as personal failings - my questions is where would you put attention seeking behaviors like being super entitled about your wedding or lying about traumatic events?

Are these caused by social problems, and if so what might they be? Or are they just people wanting attention because it feels good and they feel entitled to do whatever they have to to get it? I have cognitive dissonance on this and am curious to hear other people’s take and why.

  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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    8 months ago

    Attention seeking, in general, is neither a personal failure nor a societal ill. It’s a normal part of the human experience. Read a few “gentle parenting” books and they’ll tell you not even to use the phrase, instead suggesting “connection-seeking behavior” as a better term.

    When my son asks me how much is twenty plus twenty plus two million, he already knows the answer. He just wants to start a conversation. Same when I want to brag to my wife about a good day at work, or she wants to vent about her sister being pissy with her over text.

    • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Agreed. I find it very disturbing when people label suicide attempts as just a cry for attention. People who are harming themselves for attention very clearly need attention.

  • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Each event should be judged on its own merits. They can each have different causes.

    That being said, our “isolated western society” which is creating more people disconnected from everyone, likely yields clues to why it seems to be growing.

  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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    8 months ago

    I think free will is an illusion so the distinction you are making here is not morally meaningful. You are simply listing some things where science has come to an understanding of the contributing factors and others where it has not. But that does not mean some things are out of our control and some things are subject to it. We are all products of our environments and genetics, none of which we necessarily chose. Some things are just less studied or harder to understand.

  • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    I have trouble not seeing it as a spectrum due to all the people I’ve seen the label applied to. I have friends who have been labelled this way but I don’t mind being there for them, even without expectations for the most part, especially if time is all they ask for. I mean, they are my friends.

  • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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    8 months ago

    You’ve come to lemmy to ask a bunch of arm chairs their opinion on actual psychological research and discussion while you’re clearly (to me) upset about something that had actually happened

    Therapists will be a far greater resource and I highly recommend you give them a shot if you frequently are finding yourself stuck in “ruts” or extreme emotion. The advice given here (just like Reddit) has no credential, insurance, or laws to prevent anyone from giving you bad advice (and it might not even seem bad at first.)

    May none of you forget that AI and quick calculations are very very easy now and pretty powerful. I could see some trolls coming into posts like these with weaponized GPT results to try and get you twisted.

    Internet is fine for fun, but for really serious shit, I try to stick with reality. We’re very shortly entering an era where things start to progress faster than ever before - so much so that I question whether or not testing/safety protocols will be able to keep up and the content on the internet will become more dangerous

      • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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        8 months ago

        Idk why I said Kmart Reddit, was really trying to inspire a laugh, and to encourage seeking professional help for stuff like this (because, i read this like OP had a specific instance that happened and upset them)

        a therapist will have far greater tools and knowledge than Lemmy will probably be able to provide, and Lemmy may even provide harmful advice while we’re at it.

        Was just supposed to be a “chuckle, yeah this probably isn’t the best place to ask for psychiatric reassurance while I’m fucking annoyed” inspiring comment but I see at least some were offended by the Kmart Reddit comment which is fair because it’s downplaying the power of lemmy and giving more back to Reddit. I’ll edit the post to be less rude

        • LyD@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Kmart Reddit is hilarious and you should keep it, fuck the downvotes

          • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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            8 months ago

            It might be a funny word choice (my thoughts at first too!) but it just muddied my message.

            I hate feeling frustrated by not being able to communicate clearly with others more than I found the wordage to be funny so I opted to take the small L and grow from it

            Nbd really