Monday, October 13, 2014

Are Empaths Psychic Vampires?

Question:  Are psychic vampires and empaths the same thing?

No.  Emotions are at play for both, but in a very different way.

A psychic vampire is someone who feeds off the energy of others.   It’s not in an overt way.  They don’t stand over you like a monster in a bad movie and suck the life force out of you.  Not exactly.   If you’ve ever found yourself drained after being with someone–especially if you find yourself drained every single time you’re with them–then it’s very possible that the other person is a psychic vampire.

An empath is a person who feels the energy of others.   Though I suppose it’s possible for an empath to feed off others’ energy as well, I’ve not encountered anyone who is both an empath and an energy vampire, or psychic vampire.

The psychic vampires I’ve known have tended to be  emotionally needy and often initiators of drama, just to cause fluctuations in emotions that they can enjoy.  These are often not positive or light emotions, and I’ve not known of any psychic vampires who “took on” these feelings themselves as empaths often do.  The vampire may be an emotional manipulator or may be completely unaware of what they’re doing.  A good example would be the family member who is always stirring up drama and then is right there to hear your problems while you pick up the pieces…all the while being reminded of you of things that upset you rather than allowing you to achieve a peaceful state of mind.
I’ve known both introvert and extrovert psychic vampires.   Empaths are generally introverts or on the cusp.

Being an empath means feeling the emotions of people you have a bond with or are in proximity to you.  As an empath, I have on a few occasions been bonded with someone who shared my sweeter emotions and I could feel both mine and theirs, so that we could mirror each other.  This in no way drained the other person but gave me a double dose of the same emotion.   Empaths sometimes cannot distinguish between someone else’s emotions and their own, so they often get caught up in other people’s turbulent feelings.  And that’s not fun!

So the big difference between psychic vampires and empaths is this:

Empaths feel the emotions of others.   Psychic vampires feed off the emotions of others.

For an empath, just feeling the emotions of others can be overwhelming.   Although it may be possible, I cannot understand how someone could be both.  They’d have to be a glutton for punishment to both feel and feed off someone else’s emotions.

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