I can relate to faking things for attention... wow. It's something I've beat myself up over for years, thinking it made me a bad, terrible person. (Well, I was told that, of course! Don't lie, don't make things up, don't draw attention to yourself, don't bother people, don't embarrass your mother, your mother works so hard, why are you so much trouble, why can't you behave like the other children...)

It was only when I was in therapy for my ADHD a few years ago (and reading a wonderful book about how attachment disorders and ADHD relate to one another) that it finally occurred to me to wonder: Why did I need to do those things in the first place? Maybe it wasn't because I was an inherently rotten person?

It's weird that you mention the 8-9-10 age, because that's the third time it's come up recently in my reading and talking with people - fourth, if you include my own things at that age - as if it might be the final "breaking point" for people...