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By Judith Orloff, MD

Some people bring unexpected lightness and comfort to your life. They crackle with energy, practically electrify you with their presence. And then there are those who leave you feeling stressed out. Or guilty. Or exhausted down to your very last molecule. I call them energy vampires, and obnoxious or meek, they come in all forms. The sob sister, for one, always considers herself the victim. The world is always against her, and she'll recount every horrible thing that has happened to her, wallowing in every perceived slight. The charmer is a constant talker or joke-teller who has to be the center of attention. The blamer, on the other hand, doles out endless servings of guilt. And then there's the drama queen, the co-worker who claims she almost died from a high fever or the neighbor who lives in extremes of emotion—life is unbelievably good or horrifically bad.

No matter which type of energy vampire you're dealing with, you're allowed to walk away. Many of us find this really hard to do. We're afraid of being thought of as impolite; we don't want to offend people. But there are plenty of ways to remove yourself from a killing conversation. When leaving isn't an option, you can still maintain your energy level by making a few minor adjustments.

Recognize the Signs
One of the first things to do is to recognize when you're being drained, and that begins with tuning in to your physical reactions. Is there a tightening in your chest when a certain person enters the conversation? Do you feel tired when you hang up the phone after speaking with someone? Does your head ache, or do you feel what I call "slimed" when another guest at a cocktail party starts talking to you?

Take a Deep Breath
The moment you feel zapped—or hemmed in, or stressed out—I recommend taking a breath. Breathing is a wonderful way to center yourself. Just follow the breath and tell yourself that you know what's happening and you can deal with it. It's important to remember our individual power. I know from working with patients that we can lose it easily. The minute somebody comes in who's bossy or blaming, we feel diminished and tense up. If we can focus on the breath, or on an image of a striking sunset or a view from a
mountaintop, the tension will drift away.

Use Your Energy
You can also use some of your own subtle energy to counter the effects of an energy vampire. Visualize a protective white light around you: an energy shield. You can still hear the person who's yelling at you or blaming you or pushing herself into your sphere, but she won't cut into you so viscerally anymore. You've created a buffer zone, where her negative influences can dissipate.

Set Boundaries
Setting boundaries is another way of protecting yourself; you draw a line saying, for instance, "This is what I can do for you, and this is what I can't." You don't have to convince the vampire of the rightness of your stance. Getting defensive simply adds to the negative charge of the encounter. You want to remain neutral. When someone starts pushing your buttons, and you start sizzling inside, you've got to make the decision not to react.

Step Back
I also suggest you step back and think about what type of people aggravate you, because I believe that one law of energy is that we attract what we haven't yet worked out in ourselves. If I'm a very angry person, I'll find myself surrounded by angry people. By paying attention to the people who seem so draining, you might discover something you need to address. It has been my experience that once you've worked through a particular issue, you're no longer worn out by that kind of energy vampire. And the vampires, robbed of a source, move on to more easily drainable audiences. I believe most of us know or have known people who come into our life and seem to suck the energy out of us. We feel depleted after having been in their presence. These people are very much like a vampire, however instead of sucking out our blood they suck away our energy to where we feel depleted and in a way dead, of no use to our self or any one else until we can have an opportunity to reenergize our self.

Just like in vampire lore, sometimes the energy vampire is not satisfied with just sucking up our energy, they want us to become one of them and will suck our energy at regular intervals until they convert us into the negative being that they are, until we are one of them! In there own way they take us under their proverbial "bat" wing and train us how to suck the energy out of people until there is nothing left.

Another legend of vampire lore is that a vampire's powers to drain you of life can only be used in your home if you invite them into your home. Therefore, if you are in the safety of your home a vampire must first be invited in by you before they can wreak havoc upon your mortal body. Ahh, one of the things we also know from vampire lore is that vampires are cunning and they not only shift forms, they can also appear to be quite normal, even enchanting and this is how they trick an unsuspecting prospective victim to invite them in. Of course one would never knowingly invite a vampire into their home now would they?

Of course the same rule does apply to the energy vampire, that is, the energy vampire cannot suck away your energy and deplete your resources without first obtaining your permission. We also know that energy vampires do shift forms and can be very cunning in the ways they get you to invite them into your life and allow them to suck away all of your energy to the point where you just want to call it a day.

What can we do about energy vampires and how can we shield ourselves from their apparent powers? First, we must become conscious of who these people are. We must stop and think about the people who enter our life and ask ourselves if this person in some way seems to suck the life energy right out of us. Once we create this awareness then we must ask ourselves why we permit them to drain us of our energy. We must then own the fact that we are the ones allowing this person to drain us, we allow it through our thoughts and reactions. At the same time we acknowledge that we are allowing the energy vampire to suck our energy away, we must also acknowledge that the energy vampire has no real power over us. See, the energy vampire has no real power, matter of fact they are almost void of power over themselves and the truth is that the only power they possess is the power that we bestow upon them through our thoughts, actions and reactions.

Once you understand that you hold all of the power and that you have the ability not to give the energy vampire any power than you quickly will build a level of energy that the energy vampire cannot penetrate, an energy level that they cannot suck away from you, an energy level that can only help to cure the energy vampire. When all the energy vampire can get from you is the energy of love then the energy vampire will die and the love of the soul which was shrouded by the energy vampire will emerge.

The key is, you have the choice to not allow other people to suck you dry of your energy. You have the power to be immune to these energy suckers!

Be aware, acknowledge your responsibility and allow yourself to overflow with an endless stream of love, the most powerful energy there is!

Thanks to Lucid for inspiring these thoughts.

11 Ways to Protect Yourself From Negative Influences

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Do you feel exhausted after being with certain people? That's how energy vampires drain your spirit. Here are 11 ways to protect yourself from these negative influences.

Energy vampires drain your spirit by depleting your positive energy, just like real vampires slurp blood. Energy vampires - such as drama queens - leave you feeling drained and listless, but these eleven ways to protect yourself from negative influences will help!

After a visit with an energy vampire, you barely have enough energy to watch tv - much pursue your goals or take care of your responsibilities. The energy vampire's negative influences have consumed your positive energy.

How Energy Vampires Drain Your Spirit Energy vampires drain positive energy in many ways, such as:

• Intruding on your life, ignoring boundaries and privacy (energy vampires don't think of you).
• Making big deals out of nothing. Energy vampires are often called "drama queens" because they can easily turn a broken nail into a Shakespearean tragedy. Negative energy spreads from everyday events.
• Complaining constantly about their partners, jobs, children, bad luck, and illnesses. Energy vampires like to vent.
• Criticizing your hair, appearance, job, children, partner, friends, and pets (energy vampires aren't positive).
• Not taking "no" for an answer. Energy vampires don't consider your needs.
• Being unrelentingly negative. Their negative energy is relentless, and energy vampires drain your positive energy by encouraging you to be negative, too.
• Blaming everyone else for their problems (energy vampires don't take responsibility).

How Energy Vampires Drain Energy & Why You Feel Depressed After a Conversation You know you've spent time with an energy vampire when you leave feeling depressed, exhausted, or sad. Energy vampires drain your positive energy for their own use. Energy vampires leave you feeling empty and sluggish – and to compensate or build positive energy you may eat, drink, shop, or sleep for hours afterwards.

Energy Vampires Need Your Positive Energy Energy vampires come in all shapes and sizes: loud and aggressive, soft-spoken and shy, charming and seductive, pushy and overbearing. Energy vampires have energy leaks that they need to fill. It's up to you to stop energy vampires from draining your positive energy. Often energy vampires don't even realize they're bleeding you dry. Energy vampires have often suffered some sort of crisis, whether in childhood or adulthood, and they're compensating to get rid of their negative energy. Energy vampires may not be deliberately, maliciously stealing your positive energy -- but they're definitely not contributing to a fantastic relationship.

Energy Vampires may drain positive energy, but you can learn to stop them! 11 Ways to Protect Yourself From Energy Vampires:

1. Limit the amount of time you spend with energy vampires. The less time you're together, the less positive energy you'll lose.
2. Learn effective ways to end conversations with energy vampires (eg, I only have ten minutes to talk.")
3. Stay calm and detached from energy vampires. Don't let their negative energy consume you.
4. Be honest about your needs (eg, "I need this time to work/read/relax/exercise.")
5. Refrain from attempting to rescue them or fix an energy vampire's problems.
6. Practice walking away from energy vampires.; the more you do it, the easier it gets.
7. Limit eye contact with energy vampires.
8. Avoid being in close spaces with energy vampires (elevators, cars, etc). Negative energy is catching.
9. Define and guard your personal space from energy vampires.
10. Tell energy vampires you feel uncomfortable discussing particular people or circumstances.
11. Stand up for yourself and your boundaries! Your time, positive energy, and resources are precious and should be closely guarded from energy vampires.

Good luck!

by Dr. Bruce Goldberg

Some people, by their very presence, seem to drain the energy of those unprotected people around them. They will often associate with a victim who exhibits the classic signs of this drain.

General debility, lack of motivation and energy, an emaciated physique, a pallid complexion, and an overall sense of weakness are typically noted. These victims also tended to be highly suggestible people. The dominant partner (energy vampire) always resists a successful treatment, or protection, applied to their victim.

Most of these energy vampires are well-meaning, normal people. They are an unhappy lot, and do their damage by a telepathic draining of their victim's energy resources. Mere separation of two people results in immediate positive changes in the victim. In my Los Angeles office I train all such victims in the art of spiritual protection techniques to eliminate any recurrences of this syndrome. Try the psychic protection negativity experience on the hypnotic exercise link for your own protection.

I prefer to use the term "psychic parasitism" for cases where this energy drain is involuntary and subconscious. If this effect is the result of a premeditated psychic attack, I refer to the perpetrator as an energy vampire.

You will observe this process at work in any public gathering,. The more people present, the easier it will be to observe. This could be a family gathering, a lecture, or an encounter at your local movie theater. When I conduct seminars and workshops, it is more than obvious. I discuss this concept and immediately see certain heads bobbing up and down. Even more interesting is the response of their partner. These individuals give more me some of the nastiest looks I have ever seen. Fear not, I am fully protected and am not susceptible to their parasitism/vampirism.

Psychic Defense Strategies Against Energy Vampires

The psychological dynamics represented by people who inadvertently portray a psychic attacker (energy vampire) fall into five major categories. This personality type is an accumulation of that individual's experiences in their current life, as well as in prior lifetimes.

Fear is the common denominator in these individuals, and you must learn to protect yourself from their negative influences. The five personality types are called ethereal, insecure, paranoid, passive-aggressive, and robotic.

The Paranoid Type

Betrayal is the main issue with a paranoid type. Their karmic theme in past lives has possibly been that of warrior-like behavior, self-sacrifice, and victory in their battles. As a results of their experiences, they learned that there were enemies in the world who betrayed and possibly killed them in several incarnations.

Paranoid types are soldiers still trying to win a war that no longer exists against an enemy that has long since perished. They do not trust anyone.  Everyone is their enemy and life is their battleground. Fear is everywhere and an ingrained part of their personality makeup.

Their energy fields tend to be more highly charged on the upper half of their body. They are especially fearful and distrustful of members of the opposite sex. Aggression is the most common response to the world from a paranoid type. This aggression takes the form of physical behavior and energy projections to anyone in their path.

Paranoid types constantly pick fights. They are seductive, but are incapable of long-term relationships. This person expects all others to betray them, and will assist in setting up others for this betrayal. A paranoid may initiate a betrayal as a preemptory strike.

To lose for a paranoid is to admit that they are bad. This is intolerable, so these people must win at any cost. They are hard workers, obsessive-compulsive, and are usually quite healthy physically. There is never enough time for them to accomplish their various goals.

Paranoid types insist you agree with their often-distorted view of the world. In reality, they want you to argue with them. This way they can win the argument and prove to themselves that they are good and you are bad.

Never argue with this person. Refrain from making eye contact with them. Lower and soften your voice when you speak to them, and change the topic to something pleasant.

The Ethereal Type

Existential terror is the predominant issue of an ethereal type. Most often these troubled souls have been tortured to death in previous lives for their metaphysical beliefs or practices. Their only escape was to leave the body, so out-of-body experiences are the norm with them today.

These individuals do not want much contact with others. They were afraid to incarnate in their present body, and show this fear by being unwilling to commit their consciousness completely into their physical body.

Leaving their physical body often throughout the day is the most common method that ethereal types use to deal with problems. They have weak boundaries and spend as much time as possible on the spiritual realms. Since all time is simultaneous on other planes, these people find it difficult to relate to linear time.

The result of these inclinations is both withdrawal and aggression. They become aggressive and angry when forced to function on the earth plane. Their psychic attack on you is rarely premeditated, but nonetheless you must protect yourself from these individuals.

The Insecure Type

The main issue with insecure types is nurturance. These souls have been through many incarnations during which there simply was not enough food or love to go around. They usually were abandoned at some time in their present life, and fear it will happen again.

The insecure type feels that everyone around them is draining their energy; their response is to suck the energy from others to compensate. They may engage you in long, boring conversations and speak very softly. Their voice is so soft and low that you have to strain to hear them. These are compulsive people who are classically overweight and susceptible to addictions of all kinds.

These souls continually create life experience proving that they are not worthy of attention, and their energy needs and nurturing requirements will never be satisfied. To solve this deficiency, they must persist in draining the energy from others, creating a vicious cycle.

An insecure type always comes across as helpless. They insist you do things for them, and expect you to take care of their every need. Give-and-take circumstances are unknown to them. All they can do is take.

Never stand directly in front of this person. Do not make eye contact with him or her, if possible. Encourage them with words, but do not offer to do things for them. Remember these individuals live in constant fear of rejection and abandonment. Do not let your pity for them be a basis for you being their next victim.

The Passive-Aggressive Type

Invasion and being controlled is the chief concern of the passive-aggressive type. During several past incarnations, they experienced being controlled and trapped in situations, and prevented from being able to express themselves in ways they wanted to. They may have been slaves, prisoners, or been victimized by religion or governments.

These souls absolutely desire freedom, but their fear prevents them from claiming it. They are angry and resentful for not feeling free, and lack a solution to this problem. Their response to the world is withdrawal, but with a subconscious wish to obtain permission from other people to come back into the world.

Passive-aggressive types lack autonomy. They constantly strive to involve other people in their lives. This individual makes demands and resists input at the same time. They live in the now, and never plan or think about the future. Self-expression is unknown to them. It is common to observe others interfering with their development, completing their sentences, and taking them for granted.

This type of individual creates an internal world of unclear, undifferentiated fantasies and ideas, with fear at the core of this world. They imprison themselves and project loneliness, desperation, and resentment toward everyone they contact. It is impossible for them to express anger.

Whey you engage this type in a conversation, they will request your advice. Unfortunately, all of your suggestions are wrong and you are of no help to them. These people ask but reject whatever is offered to them. Their classic response to your advice is, "yes,but.."

The Robot Type

The main issue of robotic types is authenticity. They are denying their true self. During previous lifetimes, they had to keep up the appearance of being perfect in order to survive. They were most likely in charge of running things, as they probably are now.

Their outer world is perfect, the inner world is denied, and there is no core essence. They constantly fear that something is missing and life is progressing without them.

To deal with this reality, robot types try to become even more perfect. They have high-paying jobs, a good reputation, a perfect spouse and family, and look in perfect health.

The more inauthentic they act, the more meaningless the world appears. Others envy their lifestyle. People come to them with their problems. The robot types never attain satisfaction from life, and come across as a blank. They function as if on automatic pilot and are often removed from your conversation.

Robot types never complain about the world. They are perfect and everything is beautiful. Appropriateness and being "politically correct" are more important that being real.

These five types of psychic parasites need to be recognized and treated accordingly, or a psychic attack upon you is inevitable.