NPD

You know those people.
Those. People.
The ones that show up in your life and drive you crazy.
Not in a charming way...well - maybe - at first.
But the ones that even when you wash your hands of them, you still see red when you run into them on the street or even think about what will happen if you run into them on the street.

Part of what drives you crazy is that these people, they don't react to things like people should.*

They parry and thrust around life in a way that is simply un-understandable, illogical and generally leaves a lot of bad feelings all around.

Anyway, I just read this article in Slate about Narcissistic Personality Disorder and it gives a good description of those very things that lead to head scratching/teeth grinding/throw your hands in the air and give up.

And it's calming to see these experienced actions described as "bad behavior" in a neutral space - not just coming from friends or your own attempts to reconcile why you've found yourself staring deep into the eyes of shadenfreude.

It's one of those articles you stumble upon and find yourself saying out loud at work "Ohmygod, that's EXACTLY what he/she/it/they would say!"

It is sad to learn that they even leave a slug trail of frustration through therapy, a quote from the article...

"clinicians reported feeling anger, resentment, and dread in working with narcissistic personality disorder patients; feeling devalued and criticized by the patient; and finding themselves distracted, avoidant, and wishing to terminate the treatment."

I'll leave you with this...

"...researchers explored whether NPD should even be considered a disorder since the people who have it, by definition, think so highly of themselves. The authors conclude it is a pathological condition but one that uniquely causes "pain and duress" not to the sufferers but to those closest to them."

* Full disclosure: I have my own PD - Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder which basically means I have one acceptable view of how the world works and those who stray outside it are wrong wrong wrong.