He does curb it sometimes but his inner drive is to seek out that attention and admiration from multiple sources (acquaintances, exes, strangers, family and friends). We've had plenty of conversations about this where he accused me of all sorts of things.. being jealous, insecure, suspicious, paranoid, etc. To me it was just interesting that his own answers to an online questionnaire bothered him to the point that he spoke with his therapist about it. Once she discredited the test, it was as if those traits he saw in himself disappeared.. and now we're back to me "reading into things".