Can mental illnesses cause a "broadcast" of psychic waves?

OK, I'm not a health professional so I don't know the medical terms; but I've noticed something and can't find any articles on the subject after several Google searches.

Can people with certain mental illnesses "broadcast" psychic waves that affect other peoples' behavior?

I teach in a post-secondary setting, and have noticed over the years how each class is unique in the way students relate to each other; some groups function very well with few problems, while other groups exhibit interpersonal problems of varying degree. I understand that this is due to the different personalities within each group and over the years I expect to see some good groups, some excellent, some mediocre, some bad, and some that make my life hell for awhile.

But I've noticed that in the most extreme cases, I've found out (after the fact, sometimes years later) that an individual in that class was later institutionalized and treated for schizophrenia or other psychotic illness. In these cases, that individual wasn't one of the people that caused trouble. Rather, the incidents seem to happen to others, without involving the person directly.

When I describe a class as being difficult, and I mention "incidents", I mean episodes of violence, or threats of violence; sexual harassment (male-female or male-male); strange outbursts of emotion unrelated to course content; extreme mood swings. These sorts of things are not regular occurrences in my class; yet there seems to be a disproportionately high amount of them in groups where one person was suffering from a mental illness.

So, this is all anecdotal of course. I've never kept stats on this sort of thing, it's just an observation made over 20 years. I discussed this with a colleague today and he said he's noticed the same thing.

Any thoughts? Anyone else notice this?

(P.S. this thread is not intended to slam or malign anyone with a mental illness)

How far do think the range is on this type of broadcasting of mental illness?
Just the class room or further?
I definitely wonder why I sometimes have an extremely short temper when usually I am cool as a cucumber.
Looking back at the company I had around me at certain times. Never would have thought to blame them for
leaking and effecting me with their illness.
Interesting thread, hope to see some more takes on this possible phenomenon.

I've never given any thought about the range of effect. It's entirely possible that any effects are caused by other people subconsciously picking up on nervous body language, etc, from the person...in that case the range would be only within a working distance. If it is really a "psychic wave" broadcast, then it might be felt over a larger distance.

I had looked into this a while back, as a former friend of mine would come by, and I would get depressed or worried, and I didn't feel better till she left, so I looked into it, and I found something called "psychic vampires" no not like the movies, but people sometimes intentionally taking focus, strength and energy from another or a group.


Alternate terms

The term psychic vampire is sometimes abbreviated psy-vamp (or psi-vamp). Alternate terms for these entities include energy vampire, energy predator, energy parasite, and energivore, as well as psionic vampire, pranic vampire, and empathic vampire.

Terms used to describe the substance or essence that psychic vampires take or receive from others include: energy,[1] qi (or ch'i), life force, prana,[1] and vitality.

Emotional Vampire
Bernstein uses the phrase "emotional vampire" for people with various personality disorders who are often considered to drain emotional energy from others.

Energy Vampires
The term "energy vampire" is also used metaphorically, to refer to people whose influence leaves a person feeling exhausted, unfocused and depressed, without ascribing the phenomenon to psychic interference.

en.wikipedia.org...

Of course I will write it again, this is not in reference to movie vampires, but describes a way that someone can take from you without it being physical, yet draining and sometimes unexplained.

Peace, NRE

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


NRE, do you think your friend gained anything from you by sapping your mental energy...or were you somehow just drawn down to his/her level? In other words, do people like that merely cause mental exhaustion around them, or are they actually feeding off the mental energy?

reply to post by avocadoshag


I wasn't really sure, she seemed to be drawn to me, she always had some depressing story about things that I wasn't interested in, even when I would change the subject. She would notice that I was uncomfortable and seemed to talk more and more.

I have since stopped talking to her, and I did tell her why. she seemed to understand as I wasn't rude about it, but some people even when they dont realize it, seem to have this trait. If you think about it, there is probably more people that you can think of that maybe made you feel this way.

Ive noticed a pattern with some, sometimes we can even attract these people. Ive asked myself more than once, why do I keep meeting these type of people, or am "I" giving off a vibe. I am more cautious about who I spend my time with, and I always make sure that I am not projecting the same things to others, so with a good friend I will ask if I may be making them uncomfortable.

Finding that this was an actual thing, actually made me a better friend for it, as I respect others as I would expect them to respect me.

Peace, NRE.

there are people that are the complete opposite of that. the ones that give off so much charm and good vibes that they fill up a room and when they leave it's almost like a drug crash, people snap out of the spell, look at each other and get back to normal.

From what I know about medicine and psychology given my relatively decent background, I'd have to firmly argue that, no, I do not think mentally ill individuals broadcast anything that effects those around them.

However, body language is extremely influential in the behaviors and actions of people in social situations - despite it being on a subconscious level.

As for your example referring to the individual with schizophrenia who seemed relatively normal despite dysfunctional behaviors of those around him/her, that isn't out of the ordinary due to the nature of schizophrenia and how/when it presents itself. One of the more notable characteristics of schizophrenia is its often sudden onset between the ages of 16 - 24. Patients often show no previous symptoms to indicate that they will develop a severe and debilitating mental illness.

As to why seemingly dysfunctional people seem to be grouped around one another, I speculate it is due mostly to the fact that humans are social creatures and look for individuals similar to them in social settings. One of the fundamental concepts of psychology is that correlation does NOT equal causation. The classic example to illustrate this point is the fact that there is a positive correlation between ice cream sales and murder. Obviously the consumption of ice cream doesn't cause people to commit murder. Just as the grouping of people who may have mental illnesses does not mean that mental illness transmits its influences to other people. If anything, the seeming "affect" of one person's mental illness on others is simply the result of how the mentally ill individual's interactions affect and influence those around them just as any other person influences and affects others in their social circle. Manipulation occurs consciously and subconsciously throughout all people and interactions, this includes those with mental illnesses, whose influences may stand out more to those looking from an outside perspective.

I'd be happy to explain this further if you have any questions. To put it simply, what you are probably seeing is a positive correlation between mentally ill people behaving abnormally and the abnormal behavior of those around them. This perceived correlation may or may not actually be there.

Ever noticed how proximity to happy people tends to make you happy? Or how being around sad people tends to make you sad?

If mental Illness is almost always associated with depression, doesn't that lend credence to the idea that daily exposure to mentally ill patients can indirectly lead to mental illness? Of course....

...humans are incredibly empathetic.

I have had two psychotic episodes in my lifetime..both times, my moods seemed to spread to my environment much more than when I was 'stable'. I am not sure what the explanation for this is.

I have a feeling that it is a combination of body language and social cues- as i do not believe in unseen 'energy'. I believe jesus was in the midst of a psychotic episode during his influential period.

While in an 'episode' I was always able to influence people, and be much more charismatic, than when not in an episode. I really 'seemed' to have the power to change the feeling, or momentum, of whatever group I was engaged with- even when I would not open my mouth...That's just my two cents on the issue...

reply to post by zelaar

zelaar, thanks for the explanation; I've been of that opinion (body language, subtle clues in behavior, etc) but I guess I started this thread to find out what others have experienced. Part of my problem I guess is that I'm not very consciously aware of these subtle signals, so it's difficult for me to gauge the effect they might have on group behavior.

reply to post by jambatrumpet

jambatrumpet, thank you for sharing your personal experience...the insider's view means a lot to me and gives me the insight I was looking for. I hope things are going well for you now.