Psychology of Parasitism
If you strip away mythology and metaphysics, parasitism shows up at the level closest to us - human relationships. Not as an infernal entity, but as a stable psychological structure capable of extracting another person's energy, resources and identity, leaving emptiness behind. Modern psychology has long described this phenomenon just under different names.
Power as a Form of Feeding
In many abusive and toxic relationships power isn't a means - it's the goal. Control, domination, humiliation, fear, dependence - all of this isn't a side effect, but a set of mechanisms that maintain the perpetrator's inner equilibrium. A person with this kind of structure doesn't "abuse" power - they cannot exist without it. This is where parasitism stops being a metaphor.
The behavior described by Vaknin, Hare and Bernstein is a precise realization of these functions.
Narcissist: Emptiness That Demands Reflection
(Sam Vaknin - Malignant Self Love)
Sam Vaknin describes pathological narcissism not as inflated self-esteem, but as a deep ontological emptiness. The narcissist has no stable self. Their identity exists only through reflection in others. Attention, fear, admiration, the pain of others - this is what they "consume." The narcissist doesn't love themselves. They use other people to temporarily stop feeling the inner void, stripped of any content.
Narcissistic "Feeding"
Vaknin introduces the concept of narcissistic supply. This is the psycho-emotional response that confirms the narcissist's greatness, existence and power. It can take the form of admiration, submission, dependence, fear or pain. It doesn't matter whether the emotion is positive or negative - what matters is its intensity. In this process, the other person turns into a mirror, a battery, a resource. As soon as the "supply" drops, devaluation, gaslighting, aggression and emotional abuse begin.
The narcissistic system functions like a pump that creates a vacuum and then partially fills it to maintain dependence. The source ("empath" or "codependent") is kept in a state of chronic stress (frustration, anxiety, humiliation) - a direct analogue of the concept of "Loosh" in an interpersonal context.
Psychopath: The Cold Predator
(Robert Hare - Without Conscience)
If the narcissist needs confirmation of their "self" (even through others' suffering), the psychopath has no such need. Their mode is pure, unemotional, instrumental parasitism.
Robert Hare describes psychopathy as:
- Lack of empathy
- Lack of guilt
- Lack of fear of consequences
The psychopath understands other people's emotions but doesn't feel them and uses this understanding as a tool.
A psychopath is not evil. He is indifferent.
Their parasitism is elevated to the rank of a rational system, where power leads to ⇒ utilitarian gain, relationships to ⇒ functional tools and people to ⇒ objects of manipulation. Unlike the narcissist, the psychopath doesn't need constant reflection. They need access.
What Do Narcissists and Psychopaths Have in Common?
Around them a person loses mental clarity, feels drained and starts doubting themselves. This is a destructive impact on the victim that leads to their exhaustion. But the driving mechanism and the final "currency" for these exploiters are different. The narcissist feeds on the target's reaction to feel alive. The psychopath uses that reaction to confirm their victory.
"Emotional Vampires": The Everyday Scale
(A.Bernstein - Emotional Vampires)
Bernstein uses a softer term but describes the same mechanism. An emotional "vampire" creates constant tension, provokes guilt, sucks up attention and energy, and is incapable of reciprocity. These aren't always clinical cases. Sometimes they are parents, partners, bosses or friends.
The concept of "emotional vampires" is useful as a practical simplification. Closer analysis shows that this isn't about mysticism but about a damaged ecology of relationships.
Your boundaries are your shield. You need to know them clearly and hold them firmly. Parasites constantly test whether they can be ignored. A simple, calm "no" without lengthy explanations is the most effective weapon. Trust actions, not words. Pay attention to lies (even small ones) to promises that never materialize to attempts to make you feel guilty. A psychopath will lie for gain, a narcissist - because your interests simply don't matter to them. Their real behavior tells you everything.
Stop "feeding" them! With a narcissist - total disengagement. Don't respond to provocations, don't argue. Any emotion you show (even anger) is exactly what they want. With a psychopath - complete and permanent cutoff. No contact. Their goal is your resources or power over you so real protection may be needed (blocking, documentation, sometimes law enforcement). Don't try to "reach" them - it's pointless and only prolongs your suffering.
Why Do Such People Gravitate Toward Power?
Because power:
- Eliminates resistance
- Lowers the risk of exposure
- Expands access to "resources"
That's why narcissists are drawn to hierarchies and psychopaths - to systems of impersonal power. Such personalities are often found in corporations, politics, religious structures or closed communities. An important point:
They aren't monsters or superhuman beings.
They're defective systems that have learned to survive at others' expense.
But understanding this doesn't oblige anyone to tolerate them.
Narcissistic and psychopathic behavior represents evolutionarily honed, albeit pathological, forms of social parasitism. They're effective because they exploit basic programs of the human psyche: the need for belonging, love and recognition (for the narcissist) and the instincts of self-preservation and submission to power (for the psychopath). Looking at them through the lens of an energy economy (loosh/supply) makes it possible to move away from moralizing and to see a clear, emotionally neutral mechanism: a technology for extracting resources and suppressing resistance. Protection from it lies not in the realm of feelings but in the realm of discipline: discipline of boundaries, of observation and of action. In this sense the psychology of power and violence isn't just theory but a manual for exiting the system.
Conclusion: Loosh as Principle, Not Myth
When the emphasis shifts, the concept of Loosh appears not as a story about entities but as a description of a fundamental principle: energy extraction is possible only under conditions of ignorance. In the human dimension this process - though identical in essence - takes more familiar grounded forms.
At the micro level one person drains another, fiercely clinging to power through emotional control. The victim literally doesn't understand what's happening. At the macro level entire societies are held in a state of chronic tension and systems reproduce crises as a source of their own stability. Populations become a "harvest," unaware of their function or true purpose. The difference lies not in essence but in scale.
Why Awareness Destroys the System
Parasitism - whether psychological or cosmic - cannot exist in a field of clear awareness. Awareness destroys the illusion and cuts off the feeding. A person who clearly understands that they're being used as a resource won't voluntarily surrender themselves to be torn apart - just as someone feeling pain cannot honestly deny a burn from fire or ignore its consequences.
That's why parasitism works only under one condition: the victim doesn't realize what's happening.
As soon as there is distance between stimulus and response the stream is cut. As soon as a person stops unconsciously "feeding" the system it loses stability.
In this sense the idea of Loosh may be not a revelation about an external world but a mirror reflecting the very structure of human reality. Human will doesn't begin with struggle or with rejecting the myth. It begins with stepping out of the role of fuel. Not being a victim doesn't mean defeating the system. It means stopping feeding it. And this is precisely where the microworld of human psychology finally coincides with the macroworld of metaphysical allegories.
