“Antisocials and all the other emotional vampires communicate differently than normal people. For most of us, communication is a way of conveying what we think, how we feel, or the specifics of a situation. When emotional vampires communicate, everything they say is directed toward achieving an effect in the person who is listening. The truth, as we understand it, is almost irrelevant.”
We all know the type, the people in our lives who seem to suck us dry—whether it be constant cries for attention, making mountains out of molehills, or demands to follow rigid structures, vampires treat us as if we’re their next meal. Unfortunately, they seem to be in situations we can’t easily escape—family obligations, work, neighbors, etc. So, what’s an innocent to do against these soul-sucking children of the night? Garlic-up!
In Emotional Vampires at Work, Dr. Albert J. Bernstein describes five personality disorders that create unhealthy, immature, and difficult vampires: antisocials (think unscrupulous sales people), narcissists (the legends-in-their-own-mind who have a constant need of reinforcement), obsessive-compulsives (bureaucratic, workaholic rule creators), histrionics (dramatics who are still living in high school), and paranoids (black-and-white, all-or-nothing manipulators). He stresses the immaturity of these types of individuals—it does help to think of them as children—and how important it is to step out of their tantrums, to think slowly and clearly in order to make the right decision. This is especially critical when your job is on the line.
The book is structured with checklists to recognize you’re dealing with a vampire (you’ll often describe them in superlatives) and identify the type, insights into the nature of the disorder, tools for working with the vampires (whether they report to you or you to them), and descriptions of workplace cultures where vampires rule. The information is so well presented that it’s tempting to become an armchair psychologist—diagnosing and helping others, but Bernstein stresses that would be a mistake. Vampires do not think in the same way as others, and they are not asking for your help. The purpose of the book is to minimize stress in dealing with them and avoid becoming a vampire yourself, especially if you work in a nest of them.
Bernstein takes what could be dry clinical text and makes it engaging, informative, and practical. I highly recommend this book.