Is your colleague or boss an emotional vampire? Here's what experts say

TimesLIVE

21-05-2025

Whether it is the great resignation or Gen Z burnout in the workplace, more employees and employers are having a hard time seeing eye to eye.
While bad pay and stress often play a big role in how some workplaces fall apart, there's also the risk of individuals playing into emotional contagion. This refers to staffers who unknowingly deplete the emotional state of other employees. They are also known as energy vampires.
We asked celebrity psychic Inbaal Honigman who are the most common energy vampire culprits, with advice to help avoid having your emotions sucked dry when you are on the grind.
1. THE CONSTANT COMPLAINER
These individuals focus exclusively on problems rather than solutions, often recycling the same complaints repeatedly. Their persistence is unwavering, and they ground their entire personalities around their need for repetition, even in complaining.
To mitigate, conversations need to be brief and original, meaning you tell the complainer the right solution, and don't get dragged into renegotiations.
2. THE DRAMA MAGNET
Life for these people is always in crisis mode, with every minor inconvenience treated as a catastrophe requiring immediate attention. They thrive on emotional intensity and unconsciously create situations that pull in other individuals.
Turn their made-up scenarios into a more productive conversation by sticking to the facts. Refuse to engage with their internal monologue and let them know you're happy to listen to them, not to their intrusive thoughts.
3. THE CHRONIC INTERRUPTER
These individuals dominate conversations, rarely listening but always speaking over others. This one-sided energy exchange leaves others feeling invisible and drained from the effort of trying to be heard. Their domineering of every conversation is at the heart of fiery interactions, and it is exhausting.
There's no way to beat them at their own game because shouting louder will only encourage them to raise their voice. Get out and leave them shouting in the void. Walk out of the room, put the phone down and don't reply to emails.
4. THE PERPETUAL VICTIM
Nothing is ever their fault, and they're constantly wronged by someone or something. They reject responsibility for their circumstances and subtly guilt others into providing emotional support without reciprocation. This energy vampire dwells in the water element. They manipulate emotions, water's signature move. There is only one way to disengage from a water vampire and that is to switch off emotionally. Don't take anything to heart, use short sentences, and if they accuse you of anything, say a dry 'sorry' and move on with your day.
5. THE JUDGMENTAL CRITIC
Always finding fault with others, these individuals spread negativity through constant criticism. Their harsh judgments create a defensive environment where others must constantly protect their energy from being diminished by disapproval.
Their god complex fuels their need to judge and admonish. Question their sanctity by asking 'why'. Questions would remind this energy vampire that they are not a deity.