Chuck is not simply an a-hole, he's an adrenaline addict egoist

I'm rewatching for, I don't know, 7th or 8th time and I noticed something new once again.

The way everybody talks about Chuck mainly vary between him being right about Jimmy and him being just a narcissist, raging prick. But obviously, there is more to his actions.

Somewhere in the 3rd season he says to Dr. Cruz something like "it's been 3 years since the last time I argued a case in the court" and adds that he wants to get back at it again as soon as possible. Right after a couple of episodes, he threatens the insurance people with litigation and tells Howard "we never shied away from a fight" right after.

Over the 3 seasons, it's been made clear that he wasn't always this irrational and compulsive. He most likely was putting more thought to his actions before actually acting on them. It was only after his divorce and ultimately getting mentally ill he became unpredictable with his decisions.

I think there is more correlation between him no longer actively being on duty and his radicalness rather than just being mentally ill.

People become just who they are after a certain age, and the room for change in personality gets narrower and narrower; so he probably was always an adrenaline addict (we can also call it a "drama addiction"), but he kept that under control by actively using his addiction in his carreer which ultimately made him "the best legal mind" people knew.

An adrenaline addict seeks the adrenaline they need in their own area of specialty. People who don't have one just act like a dick and create drama out of thin air. He found adrenaline in law and litigation, arguing cases and whatnot. It's much like mountain climbers or skydivers, only less physical.

When he pulled himself away from the law, he got nowhere else to find his adrenaline, so he started falling out with people. His ex-wife, his brother, his partner, his everyone. Drama gives an incredible amount of adrenaline rush, that's why some people are talking about a whole new drame every time you talk to them. It's addictive.

Over the 3 seasons, we see Chuck push people away one by one via some drama. Eventually he realizes that without law and his people, he's got nothing left for a personality and to live for and does what he does in the end.

TL;DR: I think he's a drama addict rather than a simple narcissistic prick. That's why he keeps falling out with people and eventually push everyone out of his life.