A recent study has revealed that self-identified vampires are going through some hard times. They need to drink blood from willing donors in order to get their daily dose of energy, but people aren’t that quick to offer up a vein.
When the ‘creatures’ think of approaching a physician or a therapist that can help them treat themselves out of necessity, they quickly back away from the through as they are afraid that health care workers will either see them as evil, psychotic stereotypes and judge them harshly, be disgusted by them, or worse, diagnose them with mental illness.
Dr. D.J. Williams, lead author and associate professor of social work over at Idaho State University, gave a statement saying that those who call themselves ‘real’ vampires and actively seek out blood that they drink in order to obtain energy, avoid informing medical practitioners of their condition because of a very human fear of being greeted by negative reactions.
For his study, published in the most recent issue of the journal Critical Social Work, Dr. Williams looked at ‘authentic’ vampires, not members of the subculture which embraces vampirism as a lifestyle and can be recognized as black-clad figures who wear fake fangs.
The lead author has been studying self-identified vampires for roughly a decade now, and can safely say that they come from all walks of life, including many successful doctors and lawyers, but also candlestick makers. Other than the fact that they constantly feel tired unless they drink blood, they’re perfectly ordinary people.
They reportedly go out searching for consenting adults that agree to let them use a scalpel in order to make a small incision in their chest area so that they can drink a little bit of their blood and boost their energy levels. It turns out that there are people who agree to this.
Dr. Williams also stressed that we live in an age of technology and a time when individuals can pick out new, alternate identities that better match who they fell they are.
He believes that it’s important for people to make an effort to understand these new identities, as well as new ways for us to identify ourselves. He found it important to note that some of these newly formed identities can not be boxed into a stereotype and that professionals of all varieties have to educate themselves on these types of topics.
The associate professor of social work added that self-identified vampires are very likely more common than people generally think, and that contrary to popular belief they’re not kids, teen, or young adults who watch vampire movies and are up to date with pop culture. They’re simply people who claim to have different energy needs.
The data was collected from 11 individuals who have been self-identified vampires for a good number of years and could be trusted to be honest open with Dr. Williams, who concluded that “The real vampire community seems to be a conscientious and ethical one”.
The lead author said that what health care professionals need to do is find non-judgmental clinics where self-identified vampires can feel comfortable talking about their alternative lifestyles.
Unfortunately this has not been easy to do, but it’s important to keep looking as ‘real’ vampires face the same issues as the rest of us – relationship problems, death of loved ones, career or job related struggles – and they did not choose this lifestyle, they were merely born this way.
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