Help for "Psychic Reading Junkies"

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Kassandra
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Help for "Psychic Reading Junkies"

Post by Kassandra »

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Facing Addiction

There are people out there for whom a psychic reading addiction is a bonafide financial strain ...much like drinking, gambling or shopping addictions are. This is a very real problem, believe it or not. And just like any other addiction, therapy, behavorial adjustment, and a serious commitment to recovery are all necessary in order to heal. I would guess that message boards like this may tend to attract people like this because they can hide behind anonymity, and not have to face the fact that they have a problem that needs addressing. Addictions are usually someone's closeted "little secret," and wouldn't we all like to appear upstanding before the public, as though we have no problems, or at least believe that's how we appear (the people closest to us see right through our charades, like that "emperor and his new clothes" story, lol).

What inspired me to write this post is the infamous "Dr. Phil's" website, which I stumbled upon today. My hats off to "Andrea" and the others, shown below, who appeared on the show in the past and openly talked about their addictions to psychic readings. Dr. Phil seems to have featured the topic of psychics quite often, for some reason. I don't think these episodes are viewable anymore, but they are summarized on his website. I've posted a couple show summaries below. Hopefully, their stories helped people watching those episodes who were also struggling with the same problem. It's not easy to go public like that, and I really applaud their courage and honesty to face their problems, get help, and make positive changes.



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Guests of the Dr. Phil Show
Andrea - psychic reading addict.jpg
Andrea - psychic reading addict.jpg (42.08 KiB) Viewed 2313 times
Andrea admits she’s addicted to psychics and has even been banned from 10 psychic hotlines as a result of her self-proclaimed obsession, which she says started about 10 years ago. “I want the psychics to tell me that everything’s going to be OK,” she says. Andrea says over the years, she’s spent at least $50,000 on psychics and even lost her house because she spent money on calling hotlines instead of paying her bills. Are there deeper issues at play with Andrea’s obsession? Dr. Phil and John Edward work together to help get Andrea back in touch with reality.
Source: drphil.com/shows/show/1873



Brett.jpg
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Michelle's husband, Brett, thought it was a good idea at first. "I figured if she goes to a psychic, that's cheap relief. Eighty bucks, 90 bucks, she can hear what she wants to hear," he says. "All of a sudden I looked at our checkbook and it's like $6500 later. I'm like, 'Hell no!'" He's also concerned about the effect Michelle's obsession is having on their household. "Michelle and Michael (Michelle's brother) had no relationship before he died. And now, all of a sudden he died, and he's the center of everything," he says.
Michelle & kids.jpg
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"My children started feeding on Michelle's sadness. Whenever they want attention, they'll cry about 'Uncle Mike.' I think I've lost part of my wife to this obsession. It makes me feel sad and abandoned because she cares so much about Mike...and the relationship they never even had." Michelle knows it's gone too far. "It's starting to cause a real problem in my marriage," she admits. "I need to move past this. Dr. Phil, I'm obsessed with talking to my dead brother. How can I get over this?"
Source: drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/2292/?id=2292&slide=1&showID=447&preview=&versionID=


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Related Articles

It's not the psychic readings themselves that are the problem; it's the addiction to getting them that is. The same could be said for any other addiction. It's usually not the substance or behavior itself hat's the problem, but the over-doing of it, the over-use. Psychic readings themselves have been an accepted part of human life since ancient times (the paintings by John Waterhouse in this post relate to that subject). People don't do things generation after generation because they don't work, but because they do. The fact that intuitive guidance is such a big part of the collective human experience perhaps evidences that people really do benefit from them.

Many people express that they get a comforting sense of closure from psychic readings, as this lady explains:

I was in an abusive relationship and returned to my hometown an emotional wreck. I suffered from horrible depression and was pretty much just a damaged shell of my formerly happy self. I tried to get help via therapists, which really did not do anything but make me feel worse and become more of a recluse. My depression had caused me to lose so much weight that my doctor was going to admit me into the hospital as he feared that my organs were going to shut down. After months of struggling, my Mom and my Aunt took me to Lilydale, which is a communtity of spiritualists. I spent all day trying to find someone that had space to do a reading, and no one had any available.

At the last place I tried, this woman told me to come back in an hour. When I arrived for my reading, the first comment she made to me was that if I had not left him the day I did, I would have been dead by that evening. That and the other things that she said to me that day, helped me more than months of therapy and allowed me to begin my process of healing. By the time I left her home, I left with such a feeling of peace. She is also would not take any money for my reading. This summer I am going to go back to her and thank her for saving my life...

Source: http://www.glo.msn.com/relationships/ar ... 4626.story


So, does this mean psychic readings should replace conventional therapy? I hope not. Author Shannan Rouss explores this question in her article, "Are Psychics the New Therapists? Why women are turning to the metaphysical world to get through the tough spots." Read it here: http://www.glo.msn.com/relationships/ar ... 4626.story

And here's an article about the phenomena of actual 12-step groups forming for psychic reading addiction recovery: http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/12/28/t ... s-arrived/



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Why do you think people become addicted to psychic readings? What's your opinion on any of this? Post your thoughts below! :wink:







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Seraphin
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Re: Help for Psychic Reading "Junkies"

Post by Seraphin »

They have lack of resistance and the power to overcome their desires to "see the future". This very act of giving in is really granting oneself permission to be "irresponsible", I believe. Because instead of learning to use and interpret physic readings wisely, they're letting them to control them.

I believe in every addiction there's an issue of power. Rationale: An addict struggles daily and deeply with power. Perhaps there's lacking in his/her life, an absence of something. Mossyoak, for instance, is desperately seeking for love, I'm not sure. Here we can see, addiction stems from an inadequacy.

I believe emotional problems is one of the major factors that can lead to "psychic reading addiction". People suffering from this, cant process their emotions constructively so they want to hear something positive or some sort of guidance to temporarily ease their discomfort. What they don't realize is that every time they're on an emotional low, whether it's because of their spouse/partner/lover, family or friends, reaching out for an external solution to an internal problem will not fix by their psychic reading addiction. In the long run, it will worsen their situation.
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Xiao Rong
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Re: Help for "Psychic Junkies"

Post by Xiao Rong »

I split this into 2 separate topics from the original, about Mossy Oak's now infamous PMs soliciting free readings from dozens of members, because I think this topic is worth of discussion in its own right, especially because I'm not sure we ever knew enough about Mossy Oak's motives to determine if she was a psychic junkie or just a very determined troll.

I've had difficulty with this myself, actually, even though I wouldn't qualify it as an addiction. Lately, as I've been doing daily readings to practice learning the Tarot, I started noticing how the reading starts taking over my day (I start analyzing everything that happens and how it might fit with the card I drew, or waiting for the negative thing to happen that the card indicated, rather than just, you know, living my life). And it also becomes inevitable that I want to ask the cards for guidance on everything, especially on things that I don't think I should know. It's a very tempting prospect, to have the ability (or know someone who can use the ability) to get answers that you think are the absolute truth (or as close to the absolute truth as anyone can have). I've had to take breaks from doing daily readings for weeks at a time, to make sure I don't get too attached. I think it takes a lot of self-control and wherewithal to not use it as a crutch for everything you do, to know that there are some things that you are not meant to know, to be able to live a life with uncertainty.

As Seraphin says, it's about power -- with divination, you always have to be careful that the readings are giving you power, as opposed to taking away your ability to live your life. So that's why I've generally preferred to do readings for others, and advise others to limit their readings to times of uncertainty.
~ Xiao Rong ~ 小蓉 ~ Little Lotus ~
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Kassandra
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Re: Help for "Psychic Junkies"

Post by Kassandra »

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Interesting thoughts on this guys, thanks. I'll have to 3rd you on that Seraphin. I have found that a lot of what is addicting about readings is the sense of perceived power that the querent thinks they have via the readings. Xiao, thanks for your candid thoughts about the effect doing daily readings could have on the reader. As I read that I remembered back to when I was doing readings for people on a daily basis, as well. Yes, the reader really needs to have a lot of balance in his or her personal life, including a healthy tolerance for the unknown, which is the way it should be. "Needing to know the outcome" too badly starts to look like paranoia if we don't watch out. I overheard a lady today say she keeps a tarot deck at every computer at both her home and office, as well as carries a deck with her all the time, lol. Ha, that's just TMI to me.




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Re: Help for "Psychic Junkies"

Post by YanaKhan »

There is another result, coming from people's addiction to readings. Recently I came to think about this issue because I have a friend who if not addicted, is very interested in readings. She used to ask me for a reading at least 2 - 3 times a week and finally I refused to do them as she tends to live her life according to what the cards say. And sometimes it's just irrational. For example if the cards said she will be having a bad day, she wouldn't leave her house. After I said I couldn't do readings for her anymore, she turned to this lady, who is charging her lots of money for readings, telling her only what my friend wants to hear. I attended one of her sessions and this reader performed reading which I found to be anything but the truth. I am not very experienced, but what she told my friend was basically crap. After spending quite a lot for readings that don't really tell her anything new, my friend decided to do her own readings and is now at least not spending any money on it. But the point is, there are people who benefit from people's suffering. And the more addicted to readings people there are, the more charlatans pop up. There is a whole TV channel here for psychics and they "perform readings" on the phone (which is charged like 4 times more than normal phone call). And there are people who call them constantly. There is no control whatsoever on the people who "perform readings" and some of them are absolutely ridiculous. There is this guy who performs reading and is being helped by "the magickal squirrel Beatris". He also "removes hexes" by dipping a rag doll into a bowl of water and squeezing the hex out if it. Another one of these "readers" makes people drink machine oil that she "charges" through the TV to cure them from hmm ... just about everything. Sometimes it makes me laugh, but mostly it makes me sick because people actually believe this stuff. And if the second lady can sometimes get a positive result because of the placebo effect, I think she could probably choose another liquid to "heal" her patients with.
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Re: Help for "Psychic Junkies"

Post by Xiao Rong »

I've been thinking about this topic lately, and to summarize, here are some suggestions for when I think one should consider backing off from getting a reading (based in part on what we've discussed on this thread, and my own experiences):

1) If you feel like you can't make any decisions (even very small decisions) without getting a reading first.

2) If you are making all of your decisions based on what readings tell you, even against your own instincts.

3) If you are starting to spend a significant amount of your income on readings.

4) If you are turning to readings and divination as a substitute for professional legal, medical, or psychological advice.

5) If your need for readings or decisions based on readings is interfering with your relationships with loved ones.

6) If you keep on asking for or performing readings on the same subject repeatedly within a short time span.

7) If you find yourself wanting to get a reading on every single little thing, like what to wear tomorrow.

8) If the results of your readings cause you anxiety or fear about the future.

Readings should only ever empower you to face the future with greater courage and confidence, and it's a secondary source of advice at most. If it's starting to take over your free will and your ability to make decisions over your own life, causing you anxiety, affecting other aspects of your life, or being your primary advisor in your life, then it's a sign that you're becoming overdependent on readings, and you should back off from readings for a while.
~ Xiao Rong ~ 小蓉 ~ Little Lotus ~
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