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Need For Drama Scale

Does drama follow you around, or could you be the one attracting it? Take this test to find out if you have a 'need for drama.'

Mark Travers, Ph.D.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D.

March 12, 2024

Mark Travers, Ph.D., is the lead psychologist at Awake Therapy, responsible for new client intake and placement. Mark received his B.A. in psychology, magna cum laude, from Cornell University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder. His academic research has been published in leading psychology journals and has been featured in The New York Times and The New Yorker, among other popular publications. He is a regular contributor for Forbes and Psychology Today, where he writes about psycho-educational topics such as happiness, relationships, personality, and life meaning. Click here to schedule an initial consultation with Mark or another member of the Awake Therapy team. Or, you can drop him a note here.

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Certain individuals possess a remarkable knack for thriving amidst drama, often exhibiting tendencies towards interpersonal manipulation, impulsive outspokenness and persistent perceived victimhood. These individuals seem to gravitate towards conflict and chaos, perpetuating interpersonal tensions and upheaval in their social circles.

Understanding the behavioral patterns and motivations underlying the propensity for drama is crucial for recognizing the impact it has on mental health and relationships. These behaviors can have significant consequences on individuals' well-being, relationships and overall quality of life. By recognizing and addressing these behaviors early on, interventions can be implemented to mitigate their negative impact and promote healthier patterns of interaction.

The Need for Drama Scale serves to assess and quantify individuals' propensity for drama-seeking behaviors. Developed by psychological researchers, this scale comprises a series of statements designed to gauge the extent to which individuals exhibit the traits associated with the need for drama: impulsivity, manipulativeness and perceived victimhood.

You can take this test here. Please follow all of the steps to receive your results.

References: Frankowski, S., Lupo, A. K., Smith, B. A., Dane’El, M., Ramos, C., & Morera, O. F. (2015). Developing and testing a scale to measure Need For Drama. Personality and Individual Differences, 89(2016). 192-201. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.10.009

Step 1: Rate the following statements based on how much you agree with them on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree.

1. Sometimes it’s fun to get people riled up.

2. Sometimes I say something bad about someone with the hope that they find out what I said.

3. I say or do things just to see how others react.

4. Sometimes I play people against each other to get what I want.

5. I never wait before speaking my mind.

6. I always speak my mind but pay for it later.

7. It’s hard for me to hold my opinion back.

8. People who act like my friends have stabbed me in the back.

9. People often talk about me behind my back.

10. I often wonder why such crazy things happen to me.

11. I feel like there are people in my life who are out to get me.

12. A lot of people have wronged me.

0 of 0 questions answered

Step 2: Enter your age, gender, region, and first name so we can provide you with a detailed report that compares your test scores with people similar to you.

What is your age?

What is your gender?

What region of the world do you live in?

What is your first name?

Step 3: Check to make sure you've provided answers to all of the statements/questions above. Once you've done that, click the button below to send your responses to Awake Therapy's Lead Psychologist, Mark Travers, Ph.D. He will provide you with an overview of how you scored relative to others (all answers are anonymized and confidential to protect users' privacy). He can also answer any follow-up questions you may have.