Does brainwashing contribute to psychic addiction?

"Each of thes­e stages takes place in an environment of isolation, meaning all "normal" social reference points are unavailable" - Brainwashing Techniques - How Brainwashing Works | How Stuff Works

Without knowing it, without realizing it, if you have become an "addict" of psychic readings - this same phenomenon might be occurring -- hearing what you're hearing in isolation -- which may be feeding the cycle of your addiction. When you get a reading it's just you and the reader, and in more cases than not your innermost fears and desires are on the line. Perhaps you stop discussing this particular topic with well-meaning family or friends, or perhaps you didn't have the emotional closeness with your circle required for really voicing your deepest concerns and fears about life - and the future. Maybe they have become tired of hearing you talk about your ex like a broken record player and so their advice isn't as supportive as it once was.

And so the advice you begin to receive in the form of readings, the "divine guidance" is very much in isolation. And you want so badly to believe it, that you do -- especially because not only have you made an emotional investment in having a stranger tell you what your future holds, you are also financially invested. Cognitive dissonance would then suggest that, because you've done all these things already, you/the reader must be right.

If you were to share the details of a reading with a friend, and the friend happened to play devil's advocate and question what the reader advised - well, if you were happy with what the reader said, that friend is most likely going to have burst your bubble. And since we like to feel good, maybe we go back to the reader the next time we feel lonely or anxious instead of the friend. Because we want that happy outcome, we want that ex to return, we want to believe the new person in your ex's life doesn't mean anything. We don't want to face the fact that in your present reality, for all intents and purposes, your relationship may actually be over, for good.

Maybe you're under so much financial pressure that you need to know if you're going to get a new job, because you can't sleep at night worrying about it. Hearing "yes, honey, everything is going to turn out okay", gives you the peace to sleep for the night, for the week, or for however long it lasts until the timeline passes and you're still left jobless or single. Maybe knowing the you win that client or that deal will help you to have the confidence so that you actually do win the deal. But either way, it's a tool you're using to fight your anxiety, and it's a symptom of a lack of faith in whatever area you are calling about. Maybe you're so unsure about your next steps that you want a reading to tell you that yes, if you go down X path, it turns out okay.

Maybe part of you even realizes that in a way, if things did turn out the way the reader said, it would be so lovely -- you prefer that reality to your actual reality. And so without realizing it, you quit living in reality and instead start living in your fantasy of how it "will be" one day. And since you don't like what your non-psychic influencers/social connections are telling you about your current situation, perhaps you even contribute to making it so that the psychic's reading of your situation is your only source of information regarding a romantic relationship outcome - because in most cases, you wouldn't be getting a reading if the person you were hung up on was communicating with you, and if they are communicating - they aren't addressing what it truly is you need to hear about -- and perhaps you are too afraid to bring it up. And, of course, your friends and family can't tell you if you'll get that job, but oh - here is someone who can!

You have a problem, my friend, with the *not knowing*. You likely don't truly believe that a positive outcome is likely, or you wouldn't be so anxious about it that you have to call a psychic.

If you are going to get a reading, one reading is probably fine. When you can truly look at is as "entertainment". When your heart isn't in the outcome.

But when you are getting reading after reading, or returning because something didn't "come to pass" in the timeline provided, you have moved into the area where you have given your power and your faith to another human, who only interacts with you because you are giving him or her money. Let me remind you that this person is not a god. And any reader worth his or her salt will certainly tell you that he or she is not right 100% of the time.

If you are going to get a reading at all, beware -- meaning, be wary. While many readers are beautiful souls who choose to share their strange and wonderful gift and truly desire to help people, the responsibility of .. being responsible with readings, is still up to you. Just like it is with alcohol, or drugs, or gambling, or any other type of addiction.

It's partially the isolation that creates the addiction. And then there's the shame of the habit.

But together, you and I are going to break the cycle. We are going to publicize how psychic readings can be addictive, and provide anonymous support for those wishing to get control of their lives back. By placing our faith in a higher power, in a loving God, whatever you understand God to be, in both our futures and in having strength to change.

Because we have already learned our own willpower is not enough to beat this. Is it? We need a super natural power to stop this behavior. And it's available to all of us. It's our birthright.

What I really want you to take away from this this - *you are not alone*. You might not know anyone else personally who chooses to get readings, who gets hurt when it doesn't pan out exactly the way you were told it would, but you call again and get more hope that it's just a delay. And on and on it goes. So please join us in this effort to create Psychic Callers Anonymous.