“Vampires” keep away from clinicians; fear stereotyping

We’ve all heard stories of Vampires, how they need the blood of humans to gain energy and stay young. According to a study led by D.J. Williams, director of social work at Idaho State University, being a vampire is not easy and it is even harder to come out to a physician or a therapist fearing that they will misinterpret the habit of ingesting the blood of willing donors as a mental problem or fall prey to stereotyping. The study also suggests that the therapists should be trained to deal with people of alternate identities so that they can treat them without any prior notions and prejudice. The study also suggested that a person who needs human blood to gain energy would not reveal those practices of his to the people related to medical science. In doing so, they would risk reactions like getting ridiculed and even a possible diagnosis of a mental condition.

Image: Representational (Public Domain)

Williams has studied self-claimed Vampires for nearly a decade and knows that they come from all sections of the society. They are successful, ordinary people and are from diverse professions like medical field or candlestick makers. The study was published in the latest issue of Critical Social Work which is a peer-reviewed journal based in Canada.

Williams said, “The gist of the article is that self-identified vampires are probably more common than most people realize. A lot of people probably assume they are younger kids or young people who watch ‘Twilight’ or other pop-culture types of things. Yet, the real vampire community, which is self-defined by people who claim the need for extra energy, tend not to fit that demographic stereotype.”

The study was conducted through a series of interviews of 11 self-identified vampires and it revealed that they did not want to be judged as evil or psychotic to the general public.

The people whose responses were recorded and on which the study is based on have been claiming to be vampires for the past 11 years. These “Vampires” also take the permission of consenting adults before ingesting their blood. The results of this study could be reliable as they are believed to be honest and open.