Includes index

Children of the night: who are these emotional vampires? ; Are they really vampires? ; Antisocial vampires ; Histrionic vampires ; Narcissistic vampires ; Obsessive-compulsive vampires ; Paranoid vampires -- Maturity and mental health: If emotional vampires are children, what does it take to be a grown-up? : What causes people to become emotional vampires? ; Immaturity versus evil ; The everybody and nobody rule ; What if you see yourself? -- The way of vampires: how emotional vampires are different from and more dangerous than other annoying people : Vampires are different ; Vampires prey on humans ; Vampires can't see themselves in a mirror ; Vampires are more powerful in the dark ; Protecting yourself from vampires -- Lovable rogues: the antisocial types : The Ferrari-Toyota dilemma ; How to recognize an antisocial vampire ; The antisocial emotional vampire checklist: listening to the call of the wild ; What the questions measure -- Vampire daredevils: sexy, thrilling, and definitely bad for your health : The physiology of excitement ; Daredevil hypnosis ; Female daredevils ; How vampires keep you coming back for more ; 10 ways to protect yourself from daredevils -- Daredevils in your life: daredevil lovers and spouses : The action hero ; The liar ; The unfaithful lover ; Daredevil ex-husband ; Daredevil dads ; Daredevil adult children -- Antisocial used car salesmen: Slicker than cheap polyester, so always remember to read the fine print : Used car hypnosis ; Is honesty really the best policy? -- Vampire bullies: big, scary, powerful, and stupid as the guys who used to take lunch money : The instinct for aggression ; Vampire bully hypnosis ; What to do about bullies ; How to do the unexpected -- Antisocial used car salesmen and bullies in your life : Living with a liar ; Bullies in your life ; Living in a minefield -- Therapy for antisocial vampires : The goal ; Anger control treatment ; Self-help ; What will hurt -- Show business, vampire style: the histrionic types : What it's like to be histrionic ; The histrionic dilemma ; What the questions measure ; The histrionic vampire checklist: living a soap opera ; How to protect yourself from histrionic vampires -- Vampires who ham it up: whether it's sex, sickness, or secrets of success, there's only one show business : Ham-it-up hypnosis ; Writing a safe role for yourself ; Illness as theater ; Celebrities, fans, and wannabes ; Nine ways to protect yourself from histrionic hams -- Passive-aggressive vampires: deliver us from ghoulies and ghosties and people who are only trying to help : Giving until it hurts ; Illness as communication ; Passive-aggressive hypnosis ; The high-self-esteem syndrome ; Nine ways to protect yourself from passive-aggressive histrionics -- Histrionics in your life : Histrionic martial arts ; My mother, the drama queen ;The queen of gossip ; Your depressed sister ; Male histrionics -- Therapy for histrionic vampires : The goal ; Professional help ; Self-help ; What will hurt -- Big egos, small everywhere else: the narcissistic type : What it's like to be narcissistic ; The narcissistic dilemma ; Narcissism and self-esteem ; What the questions measure ; The narcissistic vampire checklist: identifying the self-styled smartest, most talented, all-around best people in the world -- Vampires who are legends in their own minds: with talent like theirs, who needs performance? : How narcissistic legends prevent themselves from succeeding ; Narcissistic legend hypnosis ; How to socialize narcissistic legends ; Nine ways to protect yourself from narcissistic legends in their own minds -- Vampire superstars: you've got to love the guys!: Worship them, actually: Dealing with superstars' insatiable needs ; Superstar hypnosis ; Sex and the superstar ; Superstar depression and anger ; Nine ways to protect yourself from narcissistic superstars -- Narcissists in your life : Pundits from hell ; Tiger mom ; Season's greetings from the narcissist in your life -- Therapy for narcissistic vampires : The goal ; Professional help ; Self-help ; What will hurt -- Too much of a good thing: the obsessive-compulsive types : What's like to be obsessive-compulsive ; How much is too much? ; Punishment, where good and evil meet ; What the questions measure ; The obsessive-compulsive vampire checklist: vice masquerading as virtue ; The obsessive-compulsive dilemma -- Vampire perfectionists and puritans: can the undead be anal-retentive? : Why do they always seem angry? ; Obsessive-compulsive hypnosis ; Product versus process ; Demanding priorities ; Perfectionists ; How the imperfect can deal with perfectionists ; Puritans ; Meet your inner teenager ; Nine ways to protect yourself from obsessive-compulsives: what to do when the good guys are after you -- Obsessive-compulsives in your life : Control freak ; Control freak parents ; Married to a control freak -- Therapy for obsessive-compulsive vampires : The goal ; Professional help ; What will hurt -- Seeing things that others can't: the paranoid type : Paranoid purity ; What it's like to be paranoid ; The paranoid emotional vampire checklist: next stop, the twilight zone ; What the questions measure -- Vampire visionaries and green-eyed monsters: Inspiration always involves blowing things out of proportion : The paranoid quest ; Paranoid hypnosis ; Visionaries ; How to recognize crazy ideas ; Paranoids and religion ; Green-eyed monsters ; The nine elements of vampire-fighting strategy: how to give paranoids a glimpse of reality -- Therapy for paranoid vampires : The goal ; Professional help ; Self-help ; What will hurt -- Sunrise at Dracula's castle

"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."--Amazon