Thought-provoking question, Mouse....

Way back in the initial stage of my therapy journey I felt I was a victim. I truly had been a victim of abuse and such. I needed to feel victimized if I was to move through the process of mourning and grieving.
Had I not felt victimized, how would I be able to grieve? To feel I had been hurt and feel sad and cry about it? To express my yearning for the pain to have never happened? Y'know, all that kind of stuff that happens in good therapy...

I think I saw myself as a victim because I WAS a victim at a younger age...and still hadn't purged all the emotional stuff that a victim stores inside....

For me it was necessary to recognize I had been a victim and thus be able to go through the mourning process. Of rage, sadness, and eventual acceptance.

Your question seems to insinuate that one is viewing her/him self as a victim when in reality he/she is NOT a victim. Because you ask, what does someone get from remaining a victim. I think their need to mourn and grieve and BE HEARD and believed has not yet been met. Once that need has been satisfied, the person is able to exit victim mode.

Just my thinking mind's thoughts on being a victim, or on viewing oneself as a victim.