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<\/a>Not to be confused with the \u201cLion King\u2019s\u201d Hakuna Matata <\/em>which tells you not to worry and be happy eating grubs and big juicy beetles, Burra Tinoddu<\/em> <\/strong>roughly means \u201cDon\u2019t eat my brain.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Damn, there are a lot of brain-eaters out there! And, the holidays just bring them out of the woodwork. We all have various interpersonal relationships: friends, family, spouses, children, bosses, co-workers, even the employees behind the counter at our favorite restaurants or coffee shops. In general, interpersonal relationships are very positive, and they are healthy for your own personal growth and development. However, we all have some people in our lives that are just physically and mentally draining. We walk away from any experience with them feeling like we just ran a full-marathon, and then hiked across the Sahara desert, and finished by climbing Mount Everest. And that\u2019s when we\u2019ve spoken to them for five minutes\u2014don\u2019t get me started on how we feel after talking to them for a whole hour. They are worse than zombies when eating your brain. At least zombies don\u2019t talk incessantly.<\/span><\/p>\nPolice Psychology | Emotional Vampires<\/h2>\n
In English, we say that person is \u201ctaking up too much space in our head,\u201d or that they are \u201cemotional vampires.\u201d What does this mean? An emotional vampire (or a \u201cbrain eater\u201d) is someone who drains your energy. They don\u2019t just make you physically exhausted, but mentally exhausted as well. They can make you feel small and worthless, berated by their constant barrage of insults or belittlements, or talk so much they nullify you, or they are constantly scamming you, or trying to control you, or \u2026, \u2014 I guess brain eaters come in all shapes and sizes. One zombie fits all, I guess. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n They may say innocent remarks such as, \u201cYou\u2019re just being overly emotional,\u201d or \u201cAre you sure you need that last piece of pie? You\u2019ve seemed to put on a few pounds this month,\u201d or even, \u201cWell some<\/em> of you should be proud of the work you\u2019ve turned in\u2026\u201d A brain eater can be very subtle about their desire for brains, and they can be a little smarmy about slipping a comment in, sometimes even with a bunch of positives. These emotional vampires suck all things good and healthy out of you. Unlike a compassionate and understanding person who is constantly looking out for your well-being and health, these emotional vampires take some sort of sick pride in tearing you down. And like all vampires, they woo you in upfront. Don\u2019t look in the eyes!<\/span><\/p>\n Emotional vampires are particularly dangerous because it can be hard to identify them in your life. They don\u2019t make themselves out to be your enemies. Their attacks against you aren\u2019t grandiose or obvious. Instead, they use subtleties and specific language to suck the energy out of you. So, what can you do to help you identify (and remove) the emotional vampires from your life? Well, the first thing to note is that emotional vampires tend to be very self-absorbed and narcissistic. They maintain a relationship with you because, in some way, you are useful to them. Whether you serve as a house to sleep in when they\u2019re in the neighborhood, or a person to vent to, they have some specific purpose for keeping you around. Sometimes family members keep you around just because you are their sister or brother.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>A lot of it is in the tones they use when they communicate with you, or in their mannerisms as they speak. Like the vampires of fiction novels and television shows, these vampires survive by sucking important energies from you. But unlike popular vampires of the media, these emotional vampires don\u2019t suck out your blood but your positivity, your contentedness, your feelings of love, peace, and goodness in the relationship. They force you to play emotional pinball<\/a> off of their thoughts and feelings. They tear you down with voices of malcontent and negativity<\/a>. Most importantly, they take pride in doing so. They enjoy<\/em> seeing you squirm, seeing your discomfort, your rapid mood change.<\/span><\/p>\nPolice Psychology | How to Identify Emotional Vampires<\/h2>\n