In general, the vast majority of people like to be acknowledged though. It's really easy to acknowledge that someone is in a difficult situation, even while you retain a great attitude and talk to them. That can be really helpful for a lot of people. But someone who pretends that bad things don't exist can't do that. Because bad things don't exist. Therefore, bad things happening to other people don't exist and they're feeling crummy for no reason. There's where the irritation comes from.
Am I to grasp he has less functional coping skills than I do?