Have you ever talked to someone and then felt a sense of exhaustion? I’m talking about a sudden change in mood and feeling of exhaustion once you separate from that person. If you felt it, you probably encountered an emotional vampire. This type of subject leaves you without energy and, step by step, using subtle emotional manipulation strategies, they make you feel worse and worse.
Emotional vampires cannot be distinguished with the naked eye, they are individuals that you can find in the office, in shopping centers, at the gym, even at home; assuming roles of friends and family. Therefore, in this Psychology-Online article we will discover together qWhat is an emotional vampire and how to recognize it.
What is an emotional vampire
Clinical vampirism is rarely described and when this happens is related to mental illness, popularly known as emotional vampirism. This category of people has “different disguises”, however, these are some of the key features that identify them:
- They make you feel overwhelmed, exhausted or even depressed.
- They have strong tendencies and needs for admiration and attention.
- They tend to blame others in order to feel superior.
- They show rapid and disconcerting mood swings.
- They are not able to face life’s challenges in a constructive way, but they try to appear in the eyes of others as victims of a supposedly adverse fate.
The superior
As we mentioned before, we cannot identify an emotional vampire by simple means. But these people do act in a characteristic way that highlights them. Little by little, after gaining your trust and sympathy, he will begin to manipulate you and exert psychological violence on you.
This will cause your energy to be detrimental and, therefore, the emotional vampire feels superior to everyone and enjoys this game in which your self-esteem is going down due to their abusemaking you feel inferior and, in turn, failing to see it as a threat to your mental health.
To help you unmask this type of people and know how to protect yourself, we advise you to read our post about .
The catastrophic
As you can imagine, emotional vampires don’t like it when you impose limits and are convinced that everyone should have their needs met. To do this, the catastrophic emotional vampire uses an attitude of negativity, making others believe that he is surrounded by misfortune. His goal is attract the attention and energy of others to fill his own faults.
The envious
Emotional vampires, women or men, are so called because they have the tendency to drain the emotional energies of everyone they come into contact with. In his case, the envious emotional vampirebelittles others and, at the same time, he needs to attract people around him in order to manipulate them and create devotion.
The gossiper
These types of subjects do not respect the privacy of others and interfere in other people’s lives. In this way, they capture the attention of others with gossip that suggests lies with the aim of defaming a person’s social image or creating uncertainties in their environment.
The gossiping emotional vampire will take care of spread false rumors to negativize the environment or even to manipulate the group in favor of their individual objectives.
The irascible
The irascible is another type of personality common in individuals with behaviors linked to the emotional vampire. In this case, the subject has angry behavior, which he tries to infect other people around him. In this way, through complaints and anger, he encourages others to share his bad mood, creating an environment of anger and dissatisfaction.
How to recognize an irascible emotional vampire? You should pay attention to their general mood: see if the individual is always angry. This is the key to identifying them since these subjects are addicted to anger and They love to vent with others.
The controller
The controlling emotional vampire trusts no one. Therefore, these people They try to control everyone obsessively and tell them how they should be and what they should feel. To do this, they appear socially secure, with an opinion about everything.
Regarding his way of controlling others, he acts by invalidating the emotions of the people around him when they do not fit with his way of seeing the world. If you want to identify these types of people, you should know that they often begin their sentences with “Do you know what you would need?” And then, after explaining everything you “have” to do, they make you feel dominated, devalued and inferior.
If you have a controlling emotional vampire in your environment, we recommend you consult our post.
The profiteer
The next type of emotional vampire is the freeloader. These people usually act in a completely condescending way. Your best weapon is passivity because they act by subtly appropriating other people’s ideas and merits.
The moralist
If you want to know how to recognize a moralistic emotional vampire, you should know that this type of individual uses blackmail and moral judgment. Through these strategies, create a group of followers that they can always offer you attention and validation.
In case you doubt if they are exercising this type of manipulation on you, it will help you to read our article on .
The talker
This subject captures the attention of people for a long time, who hardly find space in the conversation. The talkative emotional vampire vent his frustration to others, stealing their time and diminishing their energy during their meeting. Furthermore, she completely lacks empathy and is only interested in herself.
The hypochondriac
What does it mean to be a hypochondriacal emotional vampire? Pay attention to their victim attitude. This type of person wants to cause concern to the people around them in order to ensure the care and attention of others. Thus, takes advantage of human beings with empathy and compassionn to be the protagonist at all times.
The victim
These emotional vampires are similar to the previous categorization. You share the attitude of a victim, however, they will make others believe that you are unhappy with a series of invented or dramatized arguments about supposed problems. Therefore, if you offer them a solution, they will want to change the subject or they will make excuses to continue their role as a victim. All this makes you feel when you have contact with these people. overwhelmed and helpless.
The narcissist
The personality of the narcissistic emotional vampire can be summed up in one motto: “me first.” These types of subjects have a great sense of their importance and value. Therefore, they constantly try to monopolize attention and seek to feel admired.
It should be said that these individuals are dangerous because they have no empathy. If events do not develop according to their needs, they become punitive, cold and indifferent. If you want to know more about this type of emotional vampire, read our post.
The king or queen of dramas
These people turn the most banal incident into a tragedy in order to attract attention. A simple cold becomes a risk of fulminant pneumonia, or they arrive late because there has been a fatal accident that will be covered in the news.
Their arguments are catastrophic and every day there is a supposed disaster that affects them. With this, they try to monopolize your time to tell you their stories with a devastating emotional charge, which it will cause you emotional exhaustion.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to What is an emotional vampire and how to recognize itwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Bernstein, A.J. (2001). emotional vampires. Edaf Publishing. Recovered from https://books.google.es/books?id=xNPgmKEVLuQC&pg=PA124&dq=vampiro+emocional&hl=es&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiM85q_hcj3AhWfgs4BHXvDCmAQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=vampiro%20emocional&f=false
- Molina, F. (2012). Psychopaths. Chronicle of an emotional vampire. Createspace Independent Pub.