I remember going through a good deal of that too. My mother encouraged me to join her church but I was way too judgmental about how judgmental I thought all Christians were to do anything like that lol... but what was really bugging me was my own insecurity, resentments, envy etc. Quite often my brain would start chewing on me in the morning and I'd end up profoundly edgy all day. Other days I'd be fine; so the curve tended to be often below "fine". Booze and weed did get me out of my head a bit though in the end weed just made me paranoid... I don't know why I'm not an alcoholic, best I can think is that booze just wasn't enough of a fix to make me comfy, so I remained uncomfortable.
But the empathy angle is interesting, I <thought> I could feel what other people were thinking & feeling- because if I heard what they said I could reason it out to some conclusion then I must be correct, right? That particular angle has caused me trouble for getting on 40 years and it took Alanon to finally make it clear. But really, I was mostly obsessed over my own emotional condition and how others "made" me feel.
This stuff wasn't continuously a problem, it would be big sometimes, small others, sometimes not a problem at all. I was not a great student and didn't care much for school. Graduating and getting a job and getting on with things was a HUGE improvement. Of course the self-centered stuff was out in the parking lot doing pushups for a later return in strength but thats another story.
We had a mother and her teen son in our meetings for a while, fresh out of the alcoholic disaster. She and I talked a bit and she had me talk to her son who had anger issues, I pitched my Alanon experience pretty hard; how that anger screw would just get tighter and tighter until I'd snap, and I couldn't stop or control it- and how recovery was the only thing I'd ever found that would get me out and keep me out. I hope I made an impression but at that age nobody could tell me much of anything either.