The very reason toxic people are so frustrating to deal with is because we’re looking at an adult but dealing with a toddler. The majority of us grew out of our two-year-old narcissism as a function of normal development. When an adult still responds from this regressed level of self-centeredness, it is very difficult for the visual and auditory parts of our brain to put a toddler’s emotional response system inside of what looks and sounds like an adult, let alone when this adult is our parent.
