Anyone else’s parents hurt themselves for sympathy?

Yes. I haven’t seen this mentioned here much yet, either. My nmom’s hobby was cooking. She loved to belabor the point that she had slaved over a hot stove for the family and cooked us a hot meal, therefore earning her “martyr” badge for the day. However, she had a fairly frequent habit of accidentally cutting herself with a knife at family get-togethers, holidays, or events when she generally wasn’t the center of attention. These cuts were deep and painful looking, which garnered her a lot of attention and sympathy at first. But when you “accidentally” slice your hand open every Thanksgiving, Christmas, baby shower/birthday etc. people start to wonder. I finally stopped reacting to her obvious and disturbing displays. When I did, she suddenly dropped her woe is me facade and became enraged at me and belittling. She eventually stopped having “accidents” when the family began to wonder if she abusing drugs (true) or developing Alzheimer’s and not giving her the attention and coddling she was fishing for.

/r/raisedbynarcissists Thread