Product Description

"Bernstein provides a field guide to the various types of Emotional Vampires and advises readers how to protect themselves from being victims of these predatory personalities."­­Boston Globe

From bestselling author Albert J. Bernstein

The author of Dinosaur Brains offers protection from people who seek to destroy the emotional and psychological well-being of others. Like the fabled demons, these vampires:

• Think their needs are more important than yours
• Believe "the rules" apply only to other people
• Use their tempers in the same way terrorists use bombs

Emotional Vampires tells readers how to spot a "vampire" in their lives, which defense strategies to employ to prevent one from striking, and what to do if and when they find themselves under attack.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2241 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From the Back Cover

"If I'd had a copy of this book when I started therapy, I might have saved myself a lot of time and money. Bernstein provides a field guide to the various types of Emotional Vampires and advises readers how to protect themselves from being victims of these predatory personalities."­­Diane White, The Boston Globe

Emotional Vampires: They're out there . . . masquerading as ordinary people. They may lurk in your office, your family, your circle of friends; perhaps they even share your bed. Chances are, you know all too many of them. Bright, talented, and charismatic, they win your trust, your confidence, and your affection­­then drain you of your emotional energy. But take heart as you walk through the darkness, it doesn't have to be that way­­the more you know about vampires, the less power they have over you.

Here Dr. Albert J. Bernstein, vampire-slayer and author of the best-selling Dinosaur Brains and Neanderthals at Work, reveals the secrets that will protect you once and for all. Detailing a whole range of personality types and human responses, Bernstein shows you how to spot the "vampires" in your life: self-serving Narcissists, hedonistic Antisocials, exhausting Paranoids, or over-the-top Histrionic drama queens. And, with valuable advice, psychological perspective, and much-needed humor, he gives you a range of defense strategies that are guaranteed to keep the blood-sucking creatures of darkness from draining you dry.

By the end of Emotional Vampires, you'll be armed with superior knowledge, a treasure chest of vampire-slaying tools, and all the confidence you need to take on the most draining people in your life and win without shedding the first drop of blood.

About the Author

Albert J. Bernstein, Ph. D., is the author of Dinosaur Brains, Neanderthals at Work, and Sacred Bull. A clinical psychologist, speaker, columnist, and business consultant, Dr. Bernstein is well known for teaching people to confront difficult and frightening situations with wit, wisdom, grace, and liberal doses of humor.

Customer Reviews

wouldn't it be better to do something productive
It seems that this book is simply negative. If you are so concerned about these "insane crazy people" then get away from them. Reading a book while imagining these people seems extremely obsessive and histrionic in itself.

Check immediately for missing pages!
This review is about an apparent manufacturing or publisher defect: pages 37 to 84 are missing! They are not ripped out of the book, they are simply not there. I did not start reading it and get to page 37 until after the Amazon 30-day return period was over, so I've had to go thru a rigmarole with Customer Service about how to replace the book, ship back the other one, get a refund, etc. Very frustrating. Also, the customer service dept at Amazon classified this as a "damaged in shipment" problem, although I did my best to explain it's a publishing problem. So now how do I know when they send me the replacement book, the pages will not also be missing. I highly recommend the book, but get it at your local bookshop or if you buy from Amazon, check those pages right away.

wish it wasn't focused on work environments
Overall, the information about these types of people is great. But the book focuses almost entirely on encountering these types in the work place, not in personal life. I deal with a histrionic cousin, who maintains her blond hair and Jaguar, while crying to me that she doesn't have enough money for food or medicine. Her non-stop need for me to take care of her has drained me. While I was able to get a lot of understanding from the chapter on histrionic vampires, I had to take the workplace solutions offered and try to tailor them to personal life. I would have liked the book better if it dealt with both personal and professional types and offered solutions for both.

And I do agree with the others that he does take the vampire analogy too far. It seems to me he almost felt obligated to talk about vampires when it wasn't appropriate to do so.