You make a good point, HaveHope. They do attempt, right from the start, to charm us into dropping everything and everybody that would keep us in a normal mode. They isolate us, gradually.

At first, we think we are being wooed and won over, and that we do mean the whole world to them. It's very seductive, this trick. And it's unbelievably cruel, in the long run.

It's very understandable for you to be feeling lonely now. They make us wrap ourselves up in them, and we become a bit narrow-visioned as a result. They were our world at one time. We set many hopes on them.

I was lucky, in a way, yes. I did, however, go through a lot of confusion and pain, and felt the intense sorrow of grief around these relationships; even though several never got to the point of being intimate, because they were with relatives or friends, rather than love interests. Friends that I have lost to this malaise meant almost as much to me as anyone else ever did---and in some cases, more. So I was only "lucky" in one way.

I walked around in a fog of confusion and sorrow, for long periods of time. My mind could not accept what had happened. I did not fall into the trap of blaming myself, but I certainly did question myself an awful lot---for years, in some cases. My self esteem was very badly damaged from repeat encounters with these types.

I did not have the advantage of knowing it was down to narcissism. I also did not have the supreme advantage of having anyone to support me on my journey out of it and toward healing. Trust me, the alone-ness that I felt could have killed a less independent person.

So, please, give yourself time. You're ahead of the curve, in that you know who he really is, and no longer have to wrestle with the mind-numbing question marks that plagued me. You have made friends in support groups. And most of all, you know exactly what you're dealing with, now. That's pretty huge.