Emotional vampires: the 7 toxic personalities

In this life you will have met people who transmit good values ​​and positive attitudes to you and that they infect you with their positivity and joy. Normally, we tend to want to be friends and being around these types of people, for more than obvious reasons.

However, there are other types of individuals that tend to weaken our emotional state. The reasons why emotional vampires make bad feelings flourish in other people are very varied: pessimism, egocentrism, narcissism, immaturity, lack of empathy ...

Emotional vampires: people who create discomfort wherever they go

Today we delve into the personality of these emotional vampires; individuals who, unconsciously or not, they have the ability to withdraw energy and good spirits from the people around them, creating a halo of negativity.

The main problem that emotional vampires cause is that they are not only capable of muddying the environment for the duration of their presence, but, as we interact with them on a daily basis, they end up generating high levels of stress Y emotional fatigue.

We must bear in mind that the emotional state of the people around us ends up affecting us: the emotions they are contagious, for better or for worse. And when it happens that we are maintaining negative emotions for a certain time, the psychological problems (And till some disorders) may start to appear.

It is for this reason that, if we have no choice but to live with an emotional vampire, we must learn to detect his distinctive features and know how to deal with his bad vibes.

The 7 typical personalities of emotional vampires

Individuals who draw on the emotional energy of others are prone to emotionally manipulate their ‘victims’ in order to achieve their goals or purposes. They tend to approach people around them to express their negativity and take advantage of the energy of your interlocutor.

In addition, once they have emptied their negative thoughts and emotions, they leave the scene and prepare to approach another person who can help them to discharge their discomfort.

A common feature: lack of empathy

Emotional vampires are characterized by having very little empathy. They are clearly selfish since they use the presence of another person to empty all accumulated negativity, without realizing that this will generate discomfort and unease to their interlocutor. They do not put themselves in the latter's place.

Although they have certain aspects in common, emotional vampires can take several forms. That is why we have compiled a total of seven typical personalities in people who rob you of your optimism.

1. Critical personality

Not only is it responsible for putting problems and being contrary to everything you do or say, but its ultimate purpose is make you feel inferior to him. You are always wrong and he knows the truth of everything. Also, if you question his attitude, the most normal thing is that he justifies himself by telling you that "he only wants the best for you."

If you stay close to this person for a few hours, you will realize that much of what he expresses is criticism, criticism and more criticism. Nothing seems right to you, and I'm not just talking about banal things like the last movie you've seen or the television series that is fashionable, but does not cease in its effort to criticize your ideas, your tastes or your conduct.

This type of emotional vampire is so uncompromising That ends up being irritating and can lead to a terrible emotional state. Be careful not to infect you and start criticizing yourself!

2. Pessimistic personality

The emotional vampire can also take the form of the inveterate pessimist. He always sees life with a glass half empty, he is saddened, everything seems negative to him and it will cost you horrors to convince him to that he is being too pessimistic... because he always has a counterargument prepared that "proves" that existence is not worth it. pain.

If you surround yourself with this type of person, It may happen that you end up convincing yourself that their vision of things is true and you end up being a pessimistic person, leading you to a negative attitude, without hope to improve and without wanting to improve reality or to undertake your projects.

We address the negative effects of having a pessimistic friend (among other types of toxic friends) in the following article:

"Toxic friendships: 7 signs to spot a bad friend"

3. Catastrophic personality

Emotional vampires can also be tremendous. This personality takes pessimism to an extreme, for them, any event or situation acquires an apocalyptic magnitude.

His favorite topics of conversation are about catastrophes and hecatombs that they have heard on the news or even in disasters that have not happened but that, in their convinced opinion, could happen.

These types of vampires firmly believe that life is facing a long list of dangers and impending misfortunes. If you have the bad luck to meet someone like that, you will notice how soon you feel exhausted and, in the worst case, you could start incorporating some of their paranoias into your mind sets.

4. Whining and victimizing personality

It is that typical individual who he does not stop complaining about everything that happens to him. Whether things are going badly or well for them, he will always have reasons to complain and play the victim to you.

In a victimizing person it is very difficult to find emotional support, since they will always consider that their problems are much more important than yours. You will probably notice that the complainer unloads all the problems from him when you speak, but seldom is he open to listen to you and offer his arm when you need him.

In a previous article we also addressed the profile of the victimizing personality. I invite you to read it:

• "The 6 Most Difficult Personality Profiles and How to Deal With Them"

5. Aggressive personality

They are people who react violently without coming to mind. If you say or do something that is not right for them, you can trigger their fury, for example with a gesture that can be misinterpreted or a comment that is taken out of context.

His reactions are disproportionate, so much so that you can have a serious problem if you are not careful what you do. Of course, being surrounded by a person who forces you to measure everything you do or say to the millimeter is not positive at all for your mental and emotional health. And, needless to say, you're going to feel drained within ten minutes of starting a conversation with the aggressive emotional vampire.

6. Sarcastic personality

This is an especially annoying vampire personality. To sarcastic person he loves to throw ironies at you, poisoned darts, while shielding himself behind the levity of a "simple joke". In this way, no one can blame him for his rudeness, since "it was just a joke ..:".

Although sometimes his comments can be funny and witty, the truth is that they often exceed the limits of respect and are cruel to other people. If you expose yourself a lot to a person who uses sarcastic and hurtful comments, you can end up with your self esteem on the floor. In addition, it is exhausting: it is like being an isolated soldier in enemy territory: you only have to pray that the bombs do not fall on you.

7. Cowardly personality

They are people with characteristics different from the six other personalities that we have described. He is the best emotional vampire knows how to go unnoticed, since his behavior is neither histrionic nor aggressive, but rather They are shown as helpless beings and without the ability to function on their own.

They often cause pity to those around them and get others to focus on them. This leads to a vicious circle: he plays the coward to get attention, he achieves his purpose since people attend to them and in this way they feel reinforced in their attitude.

The faint-hearted is an emotional vampire since he demands your attention and care out of vice. He ends up stealing your precious time, your space, and it is not uncommon for him not to appear anywhere when you are the one who needs him.

How do emotional vampires behave?

Emotional vampires they are nourished by two elements to be able to start stealing emotional energy to those around them: time and proximity. They need to be able to establish certain emotional and friendship ties with the other person. From there, they tend to take advantage of their weaknesses and take care of them.

For this reason it is difficult to have a good emotional state if the emotional vampire is a person who is part of our closest circle: family, friends or your sentimental partner. The closer the relationship is, the more it will cost you to avoid its harmful effects.

The emotional vampire knows how to get away

It is common for the emotional vampire to try to humiliate or deny other people, but they very often hide in justifications and excuses to show your point of view and show yourself to people as good people.

Qualifying: some vampires may not be aware that they are stealing your emotional energy

However, it should be made clear that there may be cases in which the personality of the emotional vampire is not lived consciously. Some emotional vampires are not able to realize that they behave like this, they are unaware of the negative effects their actions have on the people around them.

The causes of vampiric behavior

Sometimes they do not realize that their behavior may be caused by situations or traumatic episodes who lived years ago (or perhaps also for having mimicked dysfunctional behaviors and attitudes that they saw in their parents), and the product of this is that their way of relating to other people is influenced by these defense mechanisms what has been acquiring and consolidating as part of his personality.

It is up to you to assess whether the emotional vampire deserves a second chance.

Of course, the fact that some emotional vampires are not fully aware that they are wasting your emotional well-being It is not an excuse for you not to seriously consider how to solve, in one way or another, the discomfort that they believe in you.

It is a matter of detecting the problem in time and take appropriate and fair measures: in some cases a sincere talk from you to you can have an effect and redirect the situation. In other cases, perhaps the best solution for both is to put distance in between.