I think these questions can be difficult to answer sometimes because
1. people are different, disordered or not
2. traits and the level of intensity of those traits can be different
3. co morbid disorders can be different
4. I think we also have the ability to detach from our emotions when compared to other personality disorders.

I believe all of those play a factor in our empathy or lack of. This is a good question because I've wondered about the sincerity of our empathy. What's sincere and at what point does that sincerity cross the line into manipulation. I think empathy is sincere when there is no expectation of reciprocation. When we cross that fine line and reciprocation is expected then there's a component of it which is manipulative. I'm not saying genuine empathy doesn't exist in those situations, but I am saying it's not all genuine.

I think this is an area where projection can come into play and that's when we begin to project our values, which are probably dysfunctional leading us to be oversensitive, onto someone else ie. we showed them empathy therefore it's common sense they should show us empathy in return. When our thought process should be, we showed them empathy and there is no expectation in return.

I'm very detached and don't like to feel or express emotions with the exception of anger/hostility. When people are in distress or in need of empathy it makes me uncomfortable because all I'm giving them are words which would be applicable to the situation. I'm basically lying to them because I'm just giving them words with no real emotion attached to them.