Citation

Hervey WM, Catalano G, Catalano MC. World J. Clin. Cases 2016; 4(6): 138-141.

Affiliation

William M Hervey, Glenn Catalano, Maria C Catalano, Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, FL 33612, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Baishideng Publishing Group)

DOI

10.12998/wjcc.v4.i6.138

PMID

27326398

Abstract

Vampiristic behaviors are rarely seen clinically and less than 100 cases have been reported in the world literature to date. A distinction is usually made as to whether the patient drinks their own blood or the blood of others. We describe a 38-year-old patient who had vampiristic thoughts and fantasies that began in adolescence, but did not act on these thoughts until after she suffered a traumatic brain injury with a three-week loss of consciousness while serving in the military. Brain imaging showed focal damage to her bilateral frontal lobes. Psychological testing demonstrated impairment of executive function. We review the proposed diagnostic criteria for vampirism and discuss how behavioral disinhibition may have affected the emergence into behavior of her previously inhibited vampiristic thoughts.

Language: en