Narcissistic men have higher levels of stress hormone

[laundry_queen]

9. I was married to one

You are correct, it was.

And yes, narcissism doesn't exactly follow gender lines.

As for people who fall for it - I was raised by parents who had narcissistic tendencies - my dad was an abusive narcissist (his mother was severely abusive probably a sociopath) and my mom was an emotionally manipulating enabler who was somewhat narcissistic herself. They were VERY controlling. When I met my ex, he manipulated me in the same way and it was familiar to me, I knew how to 'navigate' it and at the same time he was far less controlling than my parents were, I felt like I had escaped my parents, and so I married him. To be honest, I didn't even realize there was something seriously wrong with my ex and my family (his family too) until I found myself dumped for a younger blonde, stuck with 4 kids and no education or job. I had to do a real inventory of my life, did some therapy sessions and joined a support group. Found out lots of reason I chose my ex - all of which have to do with the way I was raised. I have since done a lot of research and reading on narcissists and sociopaths and I'm now awakened and finally able to pick them out. I'm also able to predict my family's and ex's behavior, because really, they are all totally predictable.

What's unfortunate is narcissists and sociopaths generally pick YOU, not the other way around, and they know how to manipulate YOU. If you read Robert Hare's book on sociopaths, he's even admitted as he, a Ph.D was doing research on dangerous sociopaths, KNEW these guys were psychos, and he still sometimes got manipulated from time to time. It happens, they are masters. Chances are there is one in your midst you aren't even aware about because you haven't been on his/her bad side yet.