When someone constantly feels they are being treated unfairly, with no objective evidence to support these beliefs, I consider them to have a "persecution complex". In some cases, such people perceive themselves as victims to the point of being oppressed or targeted, and even interpret benign situations as evidence of deliberate torment.
Persecution complexes are often manifested in simple ways. For example, that person we all know who agrees to perform tasks, only to incessantly complain about it. Or how about the person who doesn't get invited to an outing they wouldn't have been able to attend, yet complains about that.
We've all been around people like this, and it gets worse all of the time, thanks again to social media as a handy device to use for the complaint.
No one may know what personal insecurities or past traumas or politics leads people to this place. We just know it's awful to be around them, be it friend or family.
Unfortunately, there's no absolute cure for persecution complexes. Silence, avoidance, and confrontation all work to a degree, but also have their downsides. Regardless, anything done to appease them will suck. Why should those who deal with the afflicted also suffer?
So, my coping mechanism is to write this blog entry about them. It's no extra work, I needed a topic anyway. And there's virtually no chance they'll read it, much less internalize it.
Or maybe they will -- after all, they have a persecution complex.
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