How to Spot and Deal with an Emotional Vampire

Emotional vampires can be a horrible thing to deal with. Learn how to spot this type of person, and what to do about them.

Instructions

• 1

  Define: An "emotional vampire" (EV) is someone who by will or by accident drains the energy of the people around them. You've probably met some, the kind of people that just make everyone around them feel tired and miserable.

• 2

  Look for the drain: You can spot EV's by the fact that people feel tired, depressed or simply "drained" around the person. Look for people that cause this effect.

• 3

  Look for intent: You can also spot an EV that drains people intentionally. Look for someone that likes to cause confrontation, or someone who likes to talk about themselves a lot. These people are often trying to get an emotional reaction, which they can then feed on.

• 4

  Look for empathy: You can sometimes spot EV's by noticing people that have a great deal of empathic ability. If someone is able to "sense" or "feel" the emotions of other people, they are often able to feed off those energies, or will unintentionally drain people because of their emotional state.

• 5

  Talk to them: If you spot an emotional vampire, and you're pretty sure they're unaware of the effect they're having, you might want to take them aside, and calmly explain how their actions affect others. Often, they will happily change their ways, or at least be more aware, so they don't cause harm to other people.

• 6

  Be Wary: If you spot an EV that works intentionally, be careful. They may start a fight to feed off your anger or fear. If it is a reasonable person, you may want to ask them to only feed off others when they have permission. Otherwise, your best bet is to just stay clear of that individual.

• 7

  Know More: Emotional vampires are sometimes called Psychic vampires, or Psy-vamps. However, people who use this term to describe themselves are typically well aware of what they can do, and only draw energy from willing individuals or groups.