Can a narcist love? The very short answer is no. They can love themselves but it is hard to expand to other people because they lack empathy. With out empathy it is hard to extend into another persons shoes and feel what they feel. Instead of empathy they relay on control to get what they want. With out therapy, neither the narcissist or the people pleaser will change. They will keep repeating the pattern until they decide to look at the cause behind it and process their emptions.