DJ Williams, director of social work at Idaho State University, headed up the research, which found that “real” vampires – those who consume others people’s blood in the hope of sustenance – were afraid of stereotyping.
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Encountering a self-identified vampire can pose challenges for clinicians in the helping professions such as social work, counseling or medical fields.
Although the study focused on “a people with a particular alternative identity”, the paper suggests “its findings may also be relevant to people who adopt other alternative identities, such as goths, otherkin, furries, and specific BDSM identities”.
“We live in an age of technology and live in a time when people can select new, alternate identities to fit how they understand themselves better”, Williams adds.
Williams and Prior based their research on 11 self-identifying vampires, who they suggest had very regularly identified themselves as vampires and could be trusted as open and honest study participants.
The procedure involves making a small cut in the chest area so they can get a small amount of blood, which they believe gives them energy. “People of all kinds sometimes struggle with relationship issues or have a death in (the) family or struggles with career and job-type issues”, he said.
Williams says that helping professionals should be educated on alternate identities such as these in order to treat them without prejudice. The participants were selected by vampire leaders known to the authors and adopted a vampire identity for an average of 14.2 years.
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Most vampires believe they were born that way; they don’t choose this.”
Modern vampires are reluctant to discuss their alternative lifestyle with physicians or therapists due to fear of legal consequences, being judged as “evil”, or being relegated to the mental health system as delusional.
He said that the self-identified vampires interviewed for this study “without exception” were very fearful about approaching clinicians. If such fears are strong enough to prevent individuals from seeking treatment when needed, they could prove risky to their overall health.
Williams, also lead author of the study found that “real-life vampires” continue their practices of sleeping in a coffin during hours of daylight, having human blood and sleepless nights. He points out that some of these new identities do not fit into stereotypes.
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.
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“Helping professionals should strive, of course, to become more aware of their own social and cultural positioning so that these do not unintentionally harm clients whose backgrounds and beliefs differ”, they conclude.
