Do empaths and narcissists share the same core wound?

Okay, before everyone freaks out and roasts me in the comments, let me provide some context for my question. I have been highly tuned-in and empathic since childhood. I’ve coached and mentored empaths and highly sensitive people for the past seven years.

And I’ve personally come out on the other side of numerous, very painful narcissistic relationships — family, friends, a boss and certainly in romance.

So I’m not just a talking head spouting a theory, I’m actively seeking answers as to why this dynamic played out in my own life and the lives of so many other empathic people.

What if the core wound that empaths and narcissists have in common is:

‘I’m not good enough’

‘I’ll never measure up’

‘I hate who I am’

‘Others don’t like me’

If a narcissist holds this deep-seated belief of inadequacy, we can attribute their damaging behaviors as a desperate need to fill a void.

People who exhibit narc behaviors project outward. They channel their inner self-hatred and use it to diminish someone else’s strength, self-confidence, light and energy.

The twisted reasoning is, if other people feel at least as bad, if not worse about…