I think you are on to something here about the ability to make changes or not.
I read recently the book "Stop caretaking the BPD and the NPD" (more about it
here) and there is chapter about changes. The author advices to announce changes very early and repeat it often... .
It was a light bulb for me. It is exactly what my exh needed. Even little things (in my eyes) were causing a lot of stress for him when not announced very early.