there was a whole topic devoted to the subject of psychic addicts but it was quite some time ago and i just don’t remember which one. i do remember that it was really, really pathetic. ie, i really felt sorry for those people pathetic.

some of these might lead to that sad discussion and/or some other type of discussion you can follow up on, but many of the links might just be psychic cat fights over territory and/or income.

i do remember it had something to do with “keen” or “kasamba”, one of which is where chip coffey worked for quite some time.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/psychic-fraud.aspx

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/psychic.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rjk31KzyGk

These seekers will spend whatever money it takes to get what they want to hear validated.

I used to tell sitters who would ask me “I have been to three different readers to day, a palmist, a rune stone reader and a tarot reader and they all told me something different. How do I know which one is correct?”

My honest answer to them would be to say something along these lines:
“Like anything else in life, perhaps the best thing to do is listen carefully to what each psychic has to say, then distill down the essence of what common threads tie each reading together, then go with that thread.”

Or in other words: take what works for you and throw the rest away. This allows the sitter to think, connect the dots for themselves and hopefully gets them to do a little of the work on their own.

This common sense approach seemed to work and in fact, my down-to -earth advice in these types of situations was usually rewarded with return visits by the very same people, asking the same question!
Go figure.

Suppose a junkie goes to a psychic fair with a particular question – something about their love life, say. Surely they must get different cold reading results from different readers? If so, what kind of mental and emotional calisthenics must they go through to deal with the cognitive dissonance created by different readings?

It is my opinion on her that she is a true believer and doesn’t want anyone to try to disuade her from her belief. She “enjoys” going to psychic fairs, sitting in sweat lodges, she even hosts psychic massages that they pass off as “alternative medicine” in her apartment. It is something she spends an enormous amount of her time and a lot of her money on. But just as an alcoholic convinces him/herself that they “just enjoy a good drink” she has convinced herself that this is just something she “enjoys” and what is the harm(?) afterall she thinks she isn’t hurting anyone or herself.

That sounds like anyone and everyone who falls for feng shui.

It sounds like an interesting project; I hope it goes well. I don’t know of any psychic junkies though; anyone who knows me wouldn’t dare speak favorably of psychics in my presence. I’m thrown out of the TV room whenever people sit down to watch shows which feature psychics; people know that “What a load of crap!” and everything which follows will drown out the dialog and even the commercials.