Psychic Junkie Rehab
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm (interview, Paranormal, Belief)
Every day, thousands of people across America turn to total strangers for advice and consultation as a coping mechanism for the lack of control or clarity in their own lives. Though usually fun and harmless, there’s another story lurking beneath the online world of pay-by-the-minute psychics. A story that has gone virtually untold. The story of the psychic junkie.
Most psychics work anonymously from home. They could be housewives, college students, unemployed, or just decent people who found a great way to make a living and help some people while they are at it. However, none of them are licensed or trained to deal with addiction.
In this episode of AfterlifeFM Profiles, Marcel travels back to his days as co-host of “In Good Spirit,” where he spoke to former psychic junkie, Sarah Lassez, about her own personal struggle through psychic addiction, and about her popular book, Psychic Junkie: a memoir.
Plus, a Canadian psychic, Wendy Wallace, calls in to come to the defense of her profession.
Lots of fun, laughs and insight you won’t hear anywhere else.
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Tiff said,
February 4, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Marcel, I quite enjoyed this discussion. “Psychic addiction” is something rarely, if ever, talked about and it was nice to see an informed (and humourous) discussion of it. It makes me wonder what exactly can cause someone to become addicted to such a thing?
(As an aside, I thought it nic that a distinction was made between psychics and mediums; so often I hear of high-profile people refer to themselves as ‘psychic mediums’ and I have no clue what that means).
When Wendy called in, I thought she had some good points to make, even if I found her a bit on the defense. I think there might have been a misunderstanding there; I took Sarah to mean that she was addicted to the psychic hotline kind of psychics, the ones who probably aren’t doing their job for any kind of spiritual good — as opposed to what I’ll call Wendy’s kind of psychics; the ones who are concerned about their clients and their wellbeing. But allin all I found it to be an enlightening discussion of a little-known topic. I’m enjoying your “AFM Profiles” series; I can only hope for more in the future.
afterlifefm said,
February 4, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for the comments, Tiff. I hope there will be more, too. I do it as a labor of love, so anyone who enjoys it, is just icing on the cake.
Matthew said,
February 6, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Wow. Very interesting. I got instantly sucked into this discussion over “psychic junkies”. The fact that it’s quite prevelant yet often unheard of makes it all the more intriguing to hear about. It’s a very understandable addiction, and anyone who argues that this doesn’t exist is quite the fool. Where can I hear more discussions like this? Am I at the right place? Haha I just got linked here but I really enjoy it.
Sarah said,
June 18, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I would just like to say that I was not attacking psychics so I don’t really know why anyone had to “come to the defense of her profession”. I was talking about psychic addiction.
Wendy doesn’t know me nor did she know what my book was about. That was made obvious by her comments that someone more qualified (a psychic?) should have written my book. Someone more qualified than myself to write my own memoir?!? lol
Also, since I was no longer on the line to defend myself and didn’t hear her slanderous comments until much later- I feel it is important to say that her comments about me which she presented as facts are totally false. She was repeating lies that originated from a group of angry psychics who didn’t like that I was writing a book about psychic addiction.
There are psychics who are well meaning and want to help with this problem of psychic addiction and there are the ones who don’t want to help because quite frankly- psychic junkies are major cash cows to the psychic industry.
Bohemian Moon said,
July 4, 2008 at 8:42 am
Being in the metaphysical industry/community, I can solidly say that psychic addiction is a grave issue for some. It can totally devestate a person both financially and emotionally. I applaud Sarah for coming forward and writing her book to foster awareness of the issue and, of course, for opening a support group for those that are currently in recovery or trying to recover from dependency on psychics.
http://blog.psychic-wisdom.net
dianna said,
May 8, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I dont applaud sarah at all. first off, people magazine ?! she discredited herself as soon as she said that. anyway, sarah, why do u compare crack and other substances to psychic addiction—at what point does ur body become psychically and chemically effected… any way, I feel your arguments overall were weakened due to uneccessary commentary..like saying, im glad i wasnt addicted to crack. as a suggestion, i would have approached it as something along the lines of,, instead of acknowledging the addiction.
m 25 yrs old, mba student and have spent 120k in the past 3 yrs on psychic hotline addiction. I ve done so much research on psychic training, cold readings, etc, also studied the mathematical possilities in tarot, as well as the spiritual history of the tarot cards…and Im not saying that authentic psychics dont exist, because I feel like they do. but I do feel the majority of readers, are trained artists. Its up to the client to use their rational good judgement when choosing a psychic. but n e way, in my case, I found that when uncertainty is high, my addiction are active. Mabe I lacked the discipline to swallow and digest during uncertainty… I sometimes think it stems from my family, and not having parents there to set examples or standards…Ive lacked that safety net. but I also feel humans can overcome such deeper rooted issues by identifying them and conditioning themselves.
Sarah, you re arguments are there, but you should have approached this from more of an intellectual point of view. ..and scientific point of view. Like emotional dependance, psychological dependance, doing research on the likelyhood of authenticity in the reader industry. etc. I found you focused too much on opinion, and emotion.
overall, I found this radio show extremely brilliant. Its actually hilarious, …and would be interesting to see more, even aired in sirius or satellite!