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What Is a Cry for Attention?

Mary McMahon
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Updated: Mar 03, 2024
Views: 17,352
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A cry for attention is an activity designed to attract notice from friends, family, or strangers. Children, especially preverbal children, may use cries for attention as a form of communication before they learn more effective communication strategies. It can be associated with an emotional disorder or a period of stress, or may be a behavioral issue. In cases where attention-seeking behavior becomes excessive or negative in nature, it may be necessary to consider therapy to treat it and get to the underlying issue causing the behavior.

This term is sometimes used dismissively, but a cry for attention can be a sign of a health problem. Infants, for example, cannot orally communicate sensations and emotions, and may cry over a wet diaper, hunger, or a simple desire to be held. As children develop, they seek attention and feedback from the people around them. Parents and caregivers may inadvertently reward negative attention-seeking behaviors, encouraging children to keep engaging in them.

Positive attention can affirm desirable behaviors, like behaving politely, being quiet, waiting, or sharing. This comes in the form of interaction with children who are behaving well; a teacher might tell members of a class that they are sitting very quietly during activity time and this is appreciated, for instance. Conversely, when a child misbehaves and receives attention for it, this is known as negative attention, and can reinforce the behavior because the child got the desired attention. The best response to negative behaviors can be ignoring them.

In teens and adults, a cry for attention may take a variety of forms. People may seek affirmation and support by boasting, exaggerating situations, or claiming emotional devastation; for example, someone might threaten to commit suicide or file for divorce in a heated argument. These behaviors are designed to elicit attention rather than being serious threats, and are sometimes associated with psychiatric disturbances.

Self-harming behavior and suicide attempts are sometimes classified as a cry for attention under the argument that people engage in them in the hopes that someone will try to stop them. This is not necessarily the case; patients may be shy and embarrassed, for example, about scars or other signs of self-harm, and could hide them from others. Likewise, they may not discuss plans for suicide or failed suicide attempts. People who conceal signs of emotional distress are not engaging in attention-seeking behavior.

Balancing the desire to avoid rewarding a cry for attention with the risk that a legitimate issue might be ignored can be difficult. People threatening suicide, for example, might be reaching out for help because they don’t actually want to commit suicide or they want assistance with a situation that feels overwhelming. Ignoring them on the grounds that their behavior shouldn’t be rewarded can be ill advised. One option is to advise that people showing signs of distress consider seeing a counselor to discuss the situation with a neutral party who can provide help.

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Mary McMahon
By Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a The Health Board researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Discussion Comments
By Inaventu — On Mar 22, 2014

@Reminiscence, I have a friend who does that and more. After she posts her troubles on her social network pages, she'll call a few close friends or relatives and start crying about her situation. At first I honestly thought she was really in dire straits and needed our help, but then it dawned on me that it was a cry for attention. She could have figured out a solution to the "problem of the day" on her own, but she felt the need to include other people in her misery.

I don't want to deny help to friends who are in genuine need of assistance, but it's been my experience that some immature adults prefer to use emotional manipulation instead of taking matters into their own hands. They might get the immediate attention they crave, but they're also going to lose more and more friends along the way if they don't grow up.

By Reminiscence — On Mar 22, 2014

I can usually tell when a child is crying for attention, but it's a lot harder when he or she is an adult. I have some friends who tend to post these dramatic and usually tragic updates on their social network pages. They'll almost always get sympathetic responses from others, then respond with a more upbeat status. What bothers me is that they'll do it all over again the next day. I'm starting to think all of these extremely personal and negative updates are really cries for attention. If they posted something positive, people might not respond.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a...

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