Current psychological frameworks often treat a victim mindset as a passive state resulting from past trauma. However, observation of complex family dynamics reveals a systemic gap in this understanding. Chronic Defensive Victimhood (CDV) is proposed as a new theoretical framework. It defines victimhood not as a passive residue of trauma, but as an actively weaponized psychological defense mechanism. Individuals with CDV utilize perceived past grievances to justify profound relational paranoia and to maintain unstable interpersonal dynamics. This framework synthesizes elements of Complex Trauma, Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD), and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) into a single, observable behavioral loop.
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