Attention Seeking Behavior in BPD

Complex Borderline Personality Disorder: How Coexisting Conditions Affect Your BPD and How You Can Gain Emotional Balance. Available at:
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In this video, we’re going to focus on attention-seeking behaviors, but also the paradox that a disorder that seeks and benefits from appropriate attention, shouldn’t get it, which will somehow teach them to not engage in attention-seeking maladaptive behaviors. Let's break the myth and explore attention-seeking behaviors in those with BPD.

Maladaptive attention-seeking behaviors can include:
1. Saying provocative or rude things to elicit a reaction, even a negative or hostile one.
2. Purposely annoying others starting fights.
3. Exhibiting learned helplessness, which is saying they cannot carry out a task to change a negative situation but they have the ability to do so.
4. Often posting one’s troubles on social media and embellishing the severity.
5. Self-harming threats, gestures, or behaviors
6. Being inappropriately flirtatious or engaging in inappropriate sexual displays.

Many, including some mental health providers, hold the view that starving the individual with BPD of attention will “teach” them to not engage in behaviors to get attention. This just doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t work. All human beings need some form and degree of attention, when starved, individuals act out – BPD or not. This is not to say that all attention-seeking behaviors should be attended to, but if you know someone with BPD who engages in attention-seeking behaviors, ostracizing them is not going to help the issue, it will inflame it.

Many individuals with BPD grew up in attention neglectful environments, whether this was by family, friends, or other types of environments. This cold shoulder tactic is not going to teach the person with BPD a lesson, but justify their core content, inner critic, and will encourage maladaptive beliefs, behaviors, and patterns. You have to engage in an adaptive and suitable manner, which can sometimes be very difficult.

Daniel J. Fox, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in Texas, international speaker, and a multi-award winning author. He has been specializing in the treatment and assessment of individuals with personality disorders for over 15 years in the state and federal prison system, universities, and in private practice. His specialty areas include personality disorders, ethics, burnout prevention, and emotional intelligence.

He has published several articles in these areas and is the author of:

Complex Borderline Personality Disorder: How Coexisting Conditions Affect Your BPD and How You Can Gain Emotional Balance. Available at:
[ Ссылка ]

Antisocial, Narcissistic, and Borderline Personality Disorders: A New Conceptualization of Development, Reinforcement, Expression, and Treatment. Available at: [ Ссылка ]

The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook: An Integrative Program to Understand and Manage Your BPD. Available at: [ Ссылка ]

Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic and Histrionic Workbook: Treatment Strategies for Cluster B Personality Disorders (IPBA Benjamin Franklin Gold Award Winner): [ Ссылка ]

Narcissistic Personality Disorder Toolbox: 55 Practical Treatment Techniques for Clients, Their Parents & Their Children (IPBA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award Winner):: [ Ссылка ]

The Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders: [ Ссылка ]

Dr. Fox has given numerous workshops and seminars on ethics and personality disorders, personality disorders and crime, treatment solutions for treating clients along the antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, and histrionic personality spectrum, emotional intelligence, managing mental health within the prison system, and others. Dr. Fox maintains a website of various treatment interventions focused on working with and attenuating the symptomatology related to individuals along the antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, and histrionic personality spectrum (www.drdfox.com).

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Amazon Author’s Page: amazon.com/author/drfox

Videos edited by Emil Christopher: emilchristopheredits@gmail.com
Animation by sirak @sirakoart (IG)
Thank you for your attention and I hope you enjoy my videos and find them helpful and subscribe. I always welcome topic suggestions and comments.

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