Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition

Written by Albert J. Bernstein

Narrated by Tom Perkins

Protect yourself from people who take undue advantage and suck the energy out of your life

Emotional Vampires will help you cope effectively with the people in your life that confound you, confuse you, and seem to sap every ounce of your energy. Bestselling author Dr. Al Bernstein shows you how to recognize each vampire type--antisocial, histrionic, narcissists, obsessive-compulsives, paranoids--and deal with them effectively. He uses many examples from the latest news headlines, which will help you distinguish between the types and deepen your understanding of each one.
In response to the daily calls and emails he got about the previous edition of this book, Dr. Al Bernstein has added his advice for dealing with those emotional vampires who come in the shape of spouses and lovers, relatives, and children. Dr. Bernstein shows you how to deal with each vampire type and what you need to do to keep from getting drained.

• Language: English
• Publisher: McGraw Hill-Ascent Audio
• Release date: Jan 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781639291632

Reviews for Emotional Vampires

[detailmuse · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

{W}hen people are driving themselves crazy, they have neuroses or psychoses. When they drive other people crazy, they have personality disorders.In this book, psychologist Bernstein describes the five personality disorders that most often drain (i.e. the “vampire” of the title) people’s emotional energy: antisocial, histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive and paranoid. It’s very interesting and applicable but I’m left feeling muddled; his organization of the material and his repetition among the various disorders did not enhance clarity.

[amtep · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spot on. Useful tips for recognizing and dealing with a variety of obnoxious personality traits.The book distinguishes 11 types of "vampires", in five main categories: antisocial, histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid. It doesn't pretend to deal with clinical disorders, just with your average defective people. It describes how to recognize, how to avoid, and how to get along if you have to. Also, some tips in case you recognize yourself in some of the descriptions.

[nickdreamsong · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although I am not a huge fan of the "self-help" genre, I do think this book is extremely helpful in devising communication strategies for the people who annoy me most. In my worklife, I give this book out as a door prize when I train managers in the gentle art of dealing with their employees' emotional baggage. It has also been helpful to me in my personal life. The vampire hook is funny, but it doesn't go too far and it's a helpful, accurate metaphor for the personalities addressed in the book.Good stuff.