Why do some people who crave attention push people away once they get it?

Answer 1

fear of rejection, if I push you away first then you cannot hurt me by what I believe will be your eventual and imminent abandonment of me. this behavior is usually found in persons with borderline personality disorder. these persons have an enormous and disabling fear of abandonment usually stemming from childhood (mostly) emotional and physical abandonment and /or negation by their parents or caregivers.

Answer 2

This may not be the right answer to your question, but maybe they really aren't craving attention at all; and someone just thinks whatever they're doing means that they're craving attention.

Another possibility is they were craving attention from one person or group and ended up getting the attention of the wrong person or group - hence, the pushing away.

Answer 3

because they really did not crave this attention, at least not the way they thought. we are taught to crave attention a certain way (more people in your life) but that's not the answer for some people.

also, the type of people you let into your life are important 2 u.

find out what you really want, what kind of attention, from whom. in the process, you'll learn about yourself.

Answer 4

Because they really do not crave attention so much as they want to push people away. Masochistic, I guess.

Answer 5

They lack attention. Some people like it when you ignore them, as soon as you give them the attention they aren't interested anymore. It just kills them that you actually don't want to pay attention to them. Then you do and they can carry on their fake lives feeding their egos, and the empty gap that someone didn't provide for them when they were children.