Can't Stop Getting Psychic Readings? A Practical Guide to Psychic and Tarot Reading Addiction

The short answer. “Psychic addiction” isn’t a formal diagnosis, but the pattern is real: you get a reading to calm the worry, feel relief for a while, the doubt comes back sooner, and the next reading feels more urgent. Psychologists call the underlying loop reassurance seeking, and it is driven by intolerance of uncertainty, not by weakness or gullibility. Willpower rarely breaks it. Structure does: remove saved cards, turn off advisor alerts, set a monthly cap, wait 72 hours before booking, and practise sitting with not-knowing. You do not have to give up readings for good. You need them back in their proper place.

Readings can be genuinely useful: a fresh perspective, a moment to say your worry out loud, a nudge toward a decision. For most people they stay occasional. But some people find themselves on a different path: booking at 2 a.m., asking the same question for the fifth time this week, trying a new advisor because the last one said the “wrong” thing, and hiding the statements.

If that sounds like you, this guide is for you. It is written without judgement, by a site that reviews readers for a living and wants readings to stay a good thing in people’s lives. It explains what is happening, gives you a self-check, and lays out a 30-day plan to get back in control.

Is Psychic Addiction Real?

It is not in the diagnostic manuals. The DSM-5-TR, the reference used by US clinicians, lists only one behavioural addiction, gambling disorder, and places internet gaming disorder in its section for conditions that need more research. Shopping, sex and exercise were considered and left out because the evidence was too thin (American Psychiatric Association fact sheet). Psychic readings have not been studied as a separate condition.

That doesn’t mean the problem is imaginary. It means the better way to understand it is through mechanisms that are well studied. Four of them fit closely.

1. Reassurance seeking

Reassurance seeking means repeatedly asking others for confirmation that a feared outcome won’t happen, or that a hoped-for outcome will. It is a core feature of anxiety disorders and OCD. In a study of 255 people, Kobori and Salkovskis found that people with anxiety disorders sought reassurance much more often than controls, and that people with OCD did it more intensely and carefully (Kobori and Salkovskis, 2013). The pattern is always the same: short-term relief, long-term growth in doubt.

A reading about “Will he come back?” can work exactly like reassurance. The answer calms you for a day or two. Then the silence continues, the doubt returns, and you need to hear it again.

2. Intolerance of uncertainty

Psychologist Nicholas Carleton argues that fear of the unknown may be one of the most fundamental fears underlying anxiety (Carleton, 2016). People differ in how well they tolerate not knowing. When tolerance is low, the urge to eliminate uncertainty becomes overwhelming, and anything that promises an answer, a reading, a horoscope, a dozen texts to friends, becomes hard to resist.

The questions that get asked most compulsively are almost always uncertainty questions: Will they come back? Is he the one? Will I get the job? When will it happen?

3. Stress makes everyone reach for meaning

Giora Keinan found that people under high stress show more magical thinking, and that the effect is strongest in people with low tolerance for ambiguity (Keinan, 1994). That is why compulsive reading-seeking usually starts during a breakup, a bereavement, a job loss or a health scare. It is not a character trait. It is a stress response.

4. Unpredictable rewards are the most habit-forming

Behavioural research going back to B.F. Skinner shows that rewards delivered on an unpredictable schedule produce the most persistent behaviour; it is the principle behind slot machines (Ferster and Skinner, 1957). Readings are unpredictable rewards by nature. Some feel uncannily right, some feel flat, some give the answer you hoped for. You never know which one you will get, so you keep trying.

The loop, step by step

1. Trigger: a silence, a social media post, a bad night, an anniversary.
2. Anxiety: “I need to know.”
3. Reading: fast, available 24/7, a few dollars a minute.
4. Relief: the answer, or just the conversation, calms you.
5. Doubt returns: sooner each time, because nothing about the real situation has changed.
6. Escalation: a second reader to check the first, longer sessions, more frequent bookings.

Actor Sarah Lassez described this cycle in her 2006 memoir Psychic Junkie, which her publisher describes as a haze of credit card debt and an addiction to psychics that threatened her finances and relationships (Simon and Schuster). Her story resonates with readers precisely because the loop is so common.

Four Common Patterns (and What Helps Each)

Compulsive reading-seeking rarely looks the same from person to person. These four patterns cover most of it. Knowing which one is yours tells you where to aim.

The waiting loop

What it looks like: someone has gone quiet, an ex, a crush, a partner who is “taking space”. You book readings to find out whether and when they will come back. Each answer holds for a few days, then the silence wins again.

What helps: a fixed waiting period that you set yourself (for example, “no reading on this until the first of next month”), a focus on what you are doing with the time, and the honest question of whether the relationship meets your needs regardless of what they do. Our no-contact guide covers this situation in depth.

The grief loop

What it looks like: after a death, readings with mediums become the main place you feel close to the person. Sessions get more frequent around anniversaries and difficult days.

What helps: keeping the connection without making it depend on sessions. Many grief specialists now see ongoing bonds with the dead as healthy; the connection can live in rituals, letters, places and conversations with people who knew them. Occasional readings can sit alongside that. If grief feels as raw a year on as it did at the start, a grief counsellor can help. Our guide to whether mediums are real includes a section on readings and grief.

The decision loop

What it looks like: you consult a reader before choices large and small: whether to send a message, take a job, go to a party. Deciding without a reading feels unsafe.

What helps: rebuilding trust in your own judgement with low-stakes decisions first. Make small choices without consulting anyone, notice that they mostly turn out fine, then work up. Keep readings for genuinely big crossroads, and use them to explore options rather than to be told what to do.

The self-draw loop

What it looks like: you read tarot or oracle cards for yourself, and pull card after card on the same question until one feels right, or re-shuffle because you didn’t like the spread.

What helps: one draw per question, written down with the date, and no re-draws for a set period. Many experienced readers teach exactly this discipline, because repeated draws on the same question tend to produce confusion rather than clarity. Treat the first draw as the answer you work with.

The Self-Check: 10 Questions

This is not a clinical test. It is a mirror. Answer for the last three months.

1. Have you asked the same question in more than one reading within a week?
2. Do you feel anxious, restless or unable to focus until you get another reading?
3. Have you gone to a different reader specifically because you didn’t like an answer?
4. Have you spent more on readings than you planned to, more than once?
5. Have you hidden your reading spending from a partner, family member or friend?
6. Have you booked readings late at night, while upset, or after drinking?
7. Do you consult a reader before ordinary decisions (what to text, whether to go out)?
8. Has reading spending caused you to miss a bill, use credit you can’t pay off, or borrow?
9. Have you tried to cut down and found you couldn’t?
10. Do you feel worse, more anxious or more confused, after readings than before?

How to read your score:

“Yes” answers	What it suggests	What to do
0–2	Healthy, occasional use	Keep your rules (below) and enjoy readings for what they are
3–5	Drift: the habit is starting to run you	Start the 30-day reset, especially weeks 1 and 2
6–10	A compulsive pattern	Do the full reset, use the money tools today, and consider talking to a professional

If you answered yes to question 8 or 10, take those seriously regardless of your total.

Why It’s So Easy Now

None of this means platforms are doing something wrong; many of these features exist for good reasons. But it helps to see the design clearly:

• Always available. Readers are online at every hour, including the hours when anxiety peaks.
• Billed in small pieces. Per-minute rates make each session feel small, while the monthly total is not.
• Saved payment methods. One tap to start a session removes the pause where you might reconsider.
• “Online now” alerts. Notifications when a favourite reader comes online can act as triggers.
• Several introductory offers. Each platform has a welcome offer, which can make it easy to start again elsewhere.

The fixes below work by putting the pause back in.

The 30-Day Reset Plan

You don’t have to quit forever. The goal is a month in which you rebuild the ability to live with not knowing, and then decide your own rules from a calmer place.

Week 1: See it clearly and add friction

• Do an honest audit. Go through 90 days of card and bank statements and add up every reading. Write the total down. Most people find it is higher than they thought, and seeing it is motivating rather than shaming.
• Remove saved cards from every reading app and site.
• Turn off notifications and “favourite reader is online” alerts. Delete the apps from your phone’s home screen, or from the phone altogether.
• Tell one person what you are doing. Secrecy keeps habits strong.
• Write your question down. What is the one question you keep asking? Usually there is only one.

Week 2: The question journal and the 72-hour rule

• When the urge comes, write instead of booking. Note the time, the trigger, the question and how anxious you feel from 0 to 10.
• Wait 72 hours. If you still want the reading after three days, you can decide then. Most urges fade well before that.
• Look for the pattern. After a week, most people see clear triggers: late nights, specific days, seeing an ex’s social media, payday.

Week 3: Practise not knowing

Clinicians treat intolerance of uncertainty with small, deliberate experiments in letting things stay uncertain (Hebert and Dugas, 2019; a 2022 randomised trial by Dugas and colleagues in Behavior Therapy tested this approach). You can borrow the idea:

• A daily worry window. Give the question 15 minutes a day at a set time. Outside that window, note the thought and postpone it.
• Small uncertainty experiments. Try a restaurant without reading reviews. Send a message and don’t check for a reply for two hours. Notice that not knowing is uncomfortable but survivable.
• Turn “will” questions into “can” questions. “Will he come back?” becomes “What can I do this week that’s good for me, whatever he does?” Write three answers and do one.

Week 4: Decide your rules

Now, from a calmer place, decide what role readings will play. Some people choose a long break. Many choose to keep them with clear rules, like the ones below. Either is a good outcome, as long as you are the one choosing.

Healthy-Use Rules That Actually Hold

These are the rules that people who enjoy readings long-term tend to follow.

1. One reading per question per cycle. If nothing in the situation has changed, a new reading won’t tell you anything new. Our frequency guide suggests sensible gaps by situation.
2. The 72-hour rule, permanently. Write the question down, wait three days, then decide.
3. A fixed monthly budget that comes from your entertainment money, not your bills.
4. No readings in the trigger zone: late at night, after drinking, or within 24 hours of a painful event (a breakup message, an anniversary).
5. One trusted reader, not many. Reader-shopping for the right answer is the most common escalation pattern. A reader who knows your history will also notice when you are asking too often.
6. Ask about yourself, not just about them. “What is in my control here?” is a question that leaves you with something to do.
7. Notice how you feel afterwards. If you regularly feel worse, that is information, and our guide to readings and anxiety covers what to do with it.

Good readers support these rules. A responsible advisor will tell you when it is too soon to ask again, and will not encourage daily sessions. If a reader tells you to come back every day, or that you will miss something important if you don’t, that reader is not looking after you.

Money Tools That Stop Overspending

Willpower is weakest exactly when the urge is strongest. Put the limits in place in advance.

• Use a separate card with a hard limit. A prepaid card, or a virtual card with a monthly spending limit, makes your budget physical. Many banks now offer virtual cards with limits, and in the US services such as Privacy.com let you set a per-merchant cap.
• Ask your bank about merchant blocks. Some banks let you block specific merchants or categories. Gambling blocks usually don’t cover reading services, so ask specifically.
• Close the account if you want a full break. Contact the platform’s support team and ask for your account to be closed. They can do this, and it removes the one-tap option entirely.
• Never top up “just in case”. Load only what you planned to spend, when you plan to spend it.

If Readings Have Caused Debt

This is more common than people admit, and it is fixable.

• United States: a nonprofit credit counsellor through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling can help you build a repayment plan.
• United Kingdom: StepChange offers free, confidential debt advice.
• Peer support: Debtors Anonymous runs free meetings, in person and online, for people whose spending has become a problem.

If any reader ever asks you to pay privately, by gift card or for “removal work”, stop and read what to do if a psychic says you’re cursed. Compulsive use and fraud are different problems, but scammers look for people who are already struggling.

When to Talk to a Professional

Readings and therapy can work well side by side (our guide on psychic readings vs therapy explains how). Consider talking to a therapist or your doctor if:

• your readings are tied to persistent anxiety, intrusive thoughts or checking behaviours;
• you are grieving and readings have become the main way you cope;
• you are fixated on one person and can’t stop thinking about them;
• you scored 6 or more on the self-check, or tried to cut down and couldn’t.

Cognitive behavioural therapy has specific techniques for reassurance seeking and intolerance of uncertainty. When looking for a therapist, it is fine to say, “I keep getting readings to calm my anxiety and I can’t stop.”

If you feel hopeless or unable to keep yourself safe, call or text 988 in the US (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), call 116 123 for Samaritans in the UK and Ireland, or contact local emergency services.

If Someone You Love Can’t Stop

• Lead with care, not the belief. “I’m not judging the readings. I’m worried about how stressed you seem and how much it’s costing.”
• Ask about the question, not the reader. “What is it you keep asking about?” Usually it is one painful uncertainty.
• Offer practical help: sitting with them while they remove saved cards, going through statements together, helping find a counsellor.
• Avoid ultimatums and mockery. Shame drives the habit underground.
• Watch for exploitation. If a reader is taking large sums, asking for private payments or isolating them, that is fraud. The money-back and reporting guide covers what to do.

FAQs

Is psychic addiction real?

It is not a formal diagnosis: the only behavioural addiction in the DSM-5-TR is gambling disorder. But the pattern is real and well understood. Repeatedly getting readings to calm anxiety about the same question works like reassurance seeking, which research links to anxiety disorders and OCD. Each reading brings short-term relief, the doubt returns sooner, and the next reading feels more necessary.

How do I know if I am getting too many psychic readings?

Warning signs include asking the same question again within days, feeling anxious until you get another reading, getting readings from several advisors to find the answer you want, spending more than you planned or hiding the spending, and making everyday decisions only after consulting a reader. Three to five of the ten signs in the self-check suggests drift; six or more suggests it is time to act.

How do I stop getting psychic readings?

Structure works better than willpower. Remove saved cards from reading apps, turn off advisor notifications, set a monthly cap on a separate virtual or prepaid card, write each question down and wait 72 hours before booking, and practise tolerating uncertainty with a daily worry window. If you want a full break, ask the platform’s support team to close your account.

Why do I keep asking the same question in readings?

Because the reading answers the question but not the feeling underneath it. When the real problem is uncertainty, such as whether someone will come back, any answer brings brief relief and then the doubt returns. Asking again resets the clock but does not build the ability to live with the unknown.

Is tarot addiction the same thing?

The mechanism is the same whether you book a reader or pull cards yourself. Drawing card after card on the same question, or asking again because you didn’t like the first spread, is reassurance seeking. The same rules help: one draw per question, write it down, and wait before asking again.

Can I keep getting readings without it becoming a problem?

Yes. Most people use readings occasionally without any problem. Useful rules: one reading per question per cycle, a 72-hour wait before booking, a fixed monthly budget, no readings late at night or right after a trigger event, one trusted reader rather than many, and questions about what you can do rather than what someone else will do.

Where can I get help if readings have put me in debt?

In the US, a nonprofit credit counsellor through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling can help with a plan; in the UK, StepChange offers free debt advice. Debtors Anonymous runs free peer-support meetings. If anxiety, grief or compulsive checking sits underneath the readings, a therapist trained in cognitive behavioural therapy can help.

Keeping Readings in Their Place

Readings work best as an occasional conversation, not a lifeline. If you take a break and come back, come back with rules: a budget, a waiting period, one question at a time and one reader you trust. 13 things to know before you pay for a psychic reading has a full checklist, and our Kasamba review explains how one large platform shows rates and keeps chat transcripts, which makes your own spending easier to track.

Sources

Mechanisms

1. Kobori, O. and Salkovskis, P. M. (2013). Patterns of reassurance seeking and reassurance-related behaviours in OCD and anxiety disorders. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 41(1), 1–23. doi:10.1017/S1352465812000665
2. Carleton, R. N. (2016). Fear of the unknown: One fear to rule them all? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 41, 5–21. PubMed 27067453
3. Keinan, G. (1994). Effects of stress and tolerance of ambiguity on magical thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(1), 48–55. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.1.48
4. Ferster, C. B. and Skinner, B. F. (1957). Schedules of Reinforcement. Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Classification and treatment

5. American Psychiatric Association. Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders (DSM-5 fact sheet). psychiatry.org
6. Hebert, E. A. and Dugas, M. J. (2019). Behavioral experiments for intolerance of uncertainty: Challenging the unknown in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 26(2), 421–436.
7. Dugas, M. J. et al. (2022). Behavioral experiments for intolerance of uncertainty: A randomized clinical trial for adults with generalized anxiety disorder. Behavior Therapy, 53(6), 1147–1160.

First-person account

8. Lassez, S. with Sardar, G. (2006). Psychic Junkie: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. simonandschuster.com