Vampirism: Fact or Fiction?

Vampirism, also known as, Clinical Vampirism or Renfield’s Syndrome involves the delusion of being a vampire and feeling the need for blood. The word “Vampirism” has been used to coat a variety of phenomenon. Such unusual behavior as eating the fleshy tissue of the human deceased, sexual pleasure and bond with corpses, cannibalism, and other lust-murders such as the abuse of corpses have been incorporated under this level since the 19th century. According to Psychiatrist (Noll, 1992), “the progression of Renfield’s Syndrome is a pivotal event that often leads to the development of vampirism. This usually occurs in childhood, and the experience of bleeding or the taste of blood is found to be exciting. After puberty, this excitement associated with blood is experienced as sexual arousal.” (Noll, 1992) speaks of three stages about the transformation of a Vampire and they are: “Auto-vampirism that is generally developed first, usually in childhood, by initially self-inducing scrapes or cuts in the skin to produce blood. This is then ingested, to later learning how to open major blood vessels drink a steady stream of warm blood more directly. The blood was then ingested at the time of the opening or may be saved in jars or other containers for later or for other reasons. Masturbation often accompanies auto-vampiristic practices. Zoophagous (eating of living creatures, but more specifically drinking their blood) may develop prior to auto-vampirism is some cases, but usually is the next to develop. Persons with Renfield’s syndrome may themselves catch and eat or drink the blood of living creatures such as insects, cats, dogs, or birds. The blood of other species may be obtained at places such as slaughter houses and then ingested. Sexual activity may accompany these functions. Vampirism in its true form is the next stage to develop – procuring and drinking the blood of living human beings. This may be done by stealing blood from hospitals, laboratories, and other facilities, or by attempting to drink the blood directly from others. Usually this involves some sort of consensual sexual activity, but in lust-murder type cases and in other nonlethal violent crimes, the sexual activity and vampirism may not be consensual.” The desire to drink blood almost always has a strong sexual part associated with it. Blood will sometimes take on an almost spiritual significance as a sexualized icon of life or power, and an understanding of well-being or empowerment will be reported by those with Renfield’s syndrome. A case study by (Jensen, 2001) that was acknowledged in April 2001 that states that “a 35-year-old woman with a history of admission to the department for adolescent psychiatry because of an eating disorder and attempted suicide at 15 was admitted after self-mutilation behavior, including cutting herself with razor blades in the arm and chest, and applying horse manure to the wounds to induce sepsis. At the time of admission she presented with psychotic symptoms such as hallucinatory voices commanding her to drink her own blood. As a part of her psychotic universe, she had practiced auto-vampirism for a couple of months, during which she once or twice a week inserted a syringe in the blood vein of her arm and tapped 10-15 ml of her own blood. Afterwards she drank it or mixed it with whisky. She stated that the reason for drinking her own blood was to obtain a purification process and considered the tapped blood as a life-giving elixir. She claimed that she could this elixir as it coated her throat, and how she received vital force from the ingested blood. If she did not drink her own blood, she feared that she would disappear; hence she experienced delusions of depersonalization. During admission the patient did not have the opportunity to continue practicing auto-vampiristic behavior, but at first still had the urge to do so. Other psychotic symptoms included discrete thought disorders such as concrete thinking and negative features like blunting of affect. The patient also reported a feeling of split identity, which resulted in her changing her Christian name seven times through The National Registration Office. The patient was diagnosed as schizophrenic by the Present State Examination interview. No reports of alcohol or substance abuse, and the blood tests were normal. At the time of admission the patient had been treated with medication for two months with no effect. After the 6th. medication change she was finally put on Risperidone and her condition improved. She refrained from further self-mutilation. The auto-vampiristic behavior stopped. She was also put on nortriptyline as she proved depressive and not severely influenced by her eating disorder.” In novels and on television people come to think that a vampire will burn in the sunlight. The only way this could happen is if they had porphyrins. According to the (Nucleus Medical Art, Inc, 2008) ”Porphyrin is a building block for heme, which is an iron-containing part of the hemoglobin in red blood cells that carries oxygen to all of the organs in the body. Having this disorder effects the nervous system not allowing it to function properly and the skin can burn, blister, and scare if exposed to sun.”

Vampires and auto-vampires have been described for centuries, most famously illustrated by the mythic figure of Dracula. From a psychiatric point of view, it is likely that at least some of the subjective reports of this bizarre behavior are due to severe mental disorders. These people should be treated with antipsychotic drugs when the starting point for vampirism and auto-vampirism is psychotic.

Works Cited

De'Van, M (2010). In My Skin. Retrieved August 01, 2010, from Horrorphile: http://www.horrorphile.net/in-my-skin
Jensen, H (2001). Auto-Vampirism in Schizophrenia. Denmark: Nord J Psychiatry.
Noll, R (1992). Clinical Vampirism. New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishing, Inc.
Nucleus Medical Art, Inc (2008). Porphyria. Retrieved August 01, 2010, from Lifescript: http://www.lifescript.com/Health/A-Z/Condition_A-Z/Conditions/P/Porphyria.aspx
Synth-tec Inc (2009). Vampirism. Retrieved August 01, 2010, from Vampirefreaks: http://vampirefreaks.com/members/malkavianmime/vampirism