Publisher's Synopsis
Hypochondria, vampire-like, sucks the life out of its victims and causes enormous suffering both in the victims of hypochondria and in their friends, lovers, and family members.In these five essays, Eric Carl Wolf uses foundational western European vampire stories to show how the hypochondriac is like a vampire's victim, later becoming a vampire. Wolf also examines how people close to the hypochondriac become victims, scapegoats, saints, and vampire slayers. Wolf tells his own painful tale of twenty-five years in a relationship with a hypochondriac and her sad end.There is hope for hypochondriacs, and vampire stories not only show us the vampire of hypochondria, but also the treatment that ultimately vanquishes the vampire of hypochondria.
