Some of my friends wouldn't dream of going for a psychic reading. I teasingly call them the psychic-phobics. They are die-hard sceptics, who, while being fully supportive of me personally, consider anything that they cannot explain away as but a mere conjurer's trick.

To them, it is unfathomable how a psychic obtains information and so it must be impossible. They close themselves off from even entertaining the possibility that something very real is taking place during a reading even though modern science has yet to validate it and embrace it.

As dyed-in-the-wool non-believers, they seem to me to be at one end of the spectrum. So, who then lies at the other end? If there are some people who refuse to accept the possibility of the paranormal at any cost, I hypothesised that there must be people who believe the other extreme - and overindulge in psychic advice. Psychic-addicts. So I asked myself:

Can we become addicted to psychics?

Over the years, I have built up my regular clients. They come back for readings once, twice a year - or whenever something is going on where they need a detached, objective point of view from a source they trust.

However, I had never encountered a client who appeared to be addicted to readings. I think I was aware that they must exist but I'd simply never met one. Well, I hadn't until recently.

Of course, I am pleased to see a client return. Who wouldn't be? When people come back, it means that they were sufficiently satisfied with their previous experience that they have decided you are worthy of their further patronage. However, in the past few months I have had several clients for whom I had barely finished their reading when they booked another one.

Why should this worry me at all, you ask.

These eager sitters seem to fall into two camps - those wanting information on another area and those wanting to follow up with more questions on the same subject. I must admit it somehow sits easier when someone seeks an immediate follow-up reading on another topic. It's as if they have seen the benefit of the insight in one area and would then like to shine the light into another. And even those who wish immediate additional information on the same area most often appear to have very healthy motivations.

So, when does seeking psychic advice become an addiction? Having multiple readings does not in itself make you addict. But at some point readings in rapid succession must become too many. Like so many things, it's difficult to nail down to a neat definition. Evidently, it's a matter of degree.

What does seem clear though is that when a sitter abdicates responsibility and relinquishes control over their own life either because of a psychic's advice or until the advice is obtained, a level of dependence has developed that can no longer escape the A-word. In such a case, I would say the sitter has become addicted.

Of course, I am not discouraging people from seeking the advice and insights psychics have to offer. Such information can be extremely valuable and empowering. I would, however, caution people from managing all aspects of their lives vicariously through readings.

Obtaining guidance is one thing. Attempting to know what's going to happen in every part of one's life is entirely another. And to do so strikes me as unnaturally trying to eliminate all surprise and risk from one's life. If you ask me, life would be pretty boring if you did in fact know what was just around every corner.

So, the next time you book a reading with a psychic stop for a moment and ask yourself whether you truly need assistance or whether you are really trying to get rid of the mystery that makes life what is - what it ought to be.

Until next week,

Kindest regards,

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