You sound great, and very much in control of your life. I enjoyed reading about Narcissistic Personality Disroder, because my therapist [who met with my h] believes that h is currently suffering from Borderline Narcissitic Personality Disorder, and I read a book about it that he recommended
It is exactly as if they have had an empathy bypass. And the abadonment issue is curious, because that is exactly the way in which my h left me - BUT he absolutely cannot see that his children felt abandoned by him when he walked out. 'But I didn't leave them, I left you' is what he says. 'I told them that'
What he feels, and what others feel are a sort of disjunct. He feels hurt, but does not see that what makes him feel hurt makes them feel hurt, and so on. It seems to be a self protective device by people who have felt very abandoned at some point in their life. But, as you say, hard to deal with. However, my h wasn't always this way, at least on the surface. It was there, buried deep, and waiting to burst forth I suppose. He did always like a lot of praise, but only from people he deemed 'worthy' to praise him, but I thought this was a male ego thing, to be frank. [OK hit me with a 2 x 4]
