Here’s a quote from Sam Vaknin, “Malignant Self-Love” (free download of excerpts from his book)

“The narcissist equates emotions with weakness. He regards the sentimental and the emotional with contempt. He looks down on the sensitive and the vulnerable. He derides and despises the dependent and the loving. He mocks expressions of compassion and passion. He is devoid of empathy. He is so afraid of his True Self that he would rather disparage it than admit to his own faults and ‘soft spots’.”

I find this to be true. One of the things Ex really despised were people who sought therapy or did self-help or turned to their faith for strength. Not only did he believe mankind was the highest pinnacle of evolution, but that he, particularly, was at the top of that pinnacle above other human beings. He even gave himself a royal title, “His Name the 1st”.

It’s not that he couldn’t do things that appeared to be sentimental, but he didn’t really hold those things in high regard. They and what they represented could be discarded in a flash if it was expedient or because it was for a “good time”. Now, that was what he held in the highest regard.

I came to realize that his emotional “opening up” or sentimental gestures were like making deposits that he not only felt entitled to withdraw from but to overdraw, because he was…well, he was him, of course.