What is a “psychic vampire?
A psychic vampire is a living person who “drains” others emotionally. Depending on the version, this may be an empathic drain (i.e., literally feeding on the emotions of others) or it may be a metaphorical drain (someone who “takes” emotionally without giving anything back; a “user”). The victims of a psychic vampire become lethargic and depressed, and, should they be drained too much, may become suicidal. The vampire itself is generally represented as fairly normal except for its ability; depending on who you ask, psychic vampires may or may not be aware of what they do.
a Psychic Vampire is someone who is incapable of producing the energy needed to survive. This life energy, also known as pranic energy, is naturally created by the body. Those who cannot create this energy must feed off of others who can in order to keep their levels of pranic energy stable. Psychic vampires accomplish this through mental abilities (empathy) which let them tap into a life source and take in their energy for his/her own.
The term “psychic vampire” was popularized in the mid-1800s when members of The Theosophical Society turned their attention to researching the psyche, described as the human mind, soul, emotions, and all the latent mental processes which take place within an individual and which are not visible or measurable in the physical world. Psychic vampires (sometimes referred to as psi-vamps) are characterized as individuals who suck energy (as opposed to blood) from others. Members of The Theosophical Society theorized two types of psychic vampires. One was the “astral”, described by Henry Steele Olcott as undead but able to separate astral from material body and leave the grave in search of blood or energy from the living, which it could send back to the buried body in order to sustain its hold on life. The other was the “magnetic”, described by Franz Hartmann as a living “psychic sponge” who absorbed energy from those around it. Although psychic vampirism seems to be a relatively recent phen
