Some people visit a psychic or intuitive healer for one reason, and for that one alone: they want confirmation for their hopes and desires.

Those clients can be a challenge to the Intuitive, because they are not open to the more subtle messages from the Spirit world. You see, the spiritual law of non-interference must be respected by all, and your Spirit Guides will most certainly not wish to interfere with your choices and decisions. Therefore they offer, through the intuitive medium, alternative pathways along with the possible outcome of a particular choice.

Do psychic vampires exist? If so, what can we do to protect ourselves?

Yes, they do exist! Let's try for a definition first: Psychic vampires feed off the life force of other sentient beings.
Why would they do that? In my experience, the class of entities that feed off others are like parasites: they drain their host of life force energy, but may not even be fully aware of their acts. It is simply who they are, what they do. These entities are by nature parasitic, i.e. they need a host to support their own existence.

How do we attract psychic vampires?

When our auric field has been depleted by traumatic circumstance (illness, loss of a loved one, etc), we become more vulnerable to other beings. Also, in the case of accelerated personal evolution, the light we give off becomes more 'visible' to other beings. We are susceptible to become "food" for others that are lacking in life force energy and are looking for hosts to attach to. Many of these beings are not 'evil' by nature; they simply look for energy food as a means of survival.
What can we do to protect ourselves?

Our need to know

So many clients come to me with a need to *know*. “Will he come back to me?”, “when will I be financially secure”, “will I ever meet my soulmate?”
We all have a need to know. Dealing with the unknown can be very stressful, to say the least. I know that from own experience, for example when I was waiting for the results of a tissue sample, fearing the worst. The human mind is not designed to deal well with an uncertain future. Ego wants to take charge, and ego wants to know. Control, even if only the illusion of control, is what ego craves and demands.
When you consult a psychic or spiritual counselor, be aware of this need and how it might misguide you.