Are psychics harmless?

[SRW]

I was listening to a podcast, called darkness on the Edge of Town http://www.darknessradio.com/ and they had this psychic Chris Fleming who is the Psychic on the TV show Dead Famous. I was not paying much attention to it as it was a whole lot of crap about how he became psychic, and other stuff.

Then the discussion takes a decidedly dangerous turn. Chris believes that children who have ADD or any other psychiatric problems are psychic, and treating them with drugs represses their psychic growth. Psychiatrist should not prescribe medicine for these kids, they should research the childs' background and find out about the other incarnations the child may have had, or find out what ghosts may be bothering them.

I cannot believe that someone would say anything like this; Who knows if anyone would believe it or not but if it ruins just one kids life...how irresponsible can you get.

Also a common theme throughout the podcast was how bad skeptics are and how we spoil everything. I hope I can spoil as much of this nonsense as possible.

[-Fran-]

Yeah, I would say that the ways in which Psychics can do harm are many, and this is just one example of thousands. I suppose some psychichs, in some situations are harmless, but more often than not their activities no doubt has harmful consequenses. The moments of harmless fun and entertainment, can't be worth all this damage.

[Flo]

I was listening to a podcast, called darkness on the Edge of Town http://www.darknessradio.com/ and they had this psychic Chris Fleming who is the Psychic on the TV show Dead Famous. I was not paying much attention to it as it was a whole lot of crap about how he became psychic, and other stuff.

Then the discussion takes a decidedly dangerous turn. Chris believes that children who have ADD or any other psychiatric problems are psychic, and treating them with drugs represses their psychic growth. Psychiatrist should not prescribe medicine for these kids, they should research the childs' background and find out about the other incarnations the child may have had, or find out what ghosts may be bothering them.

I cannot believe that someone would say anything like this; Who knows if anyone would believe it or not but if it ruins just one kids life...how irresponsible can you get.

Also a common theme throughout the podcast was how bad skeptics are and how we spoil everything. I hope I can spoil as much of this nonsense as possible.


Nice way of missing an early diagnosis of schizophrenia, psychosis, and a lot of other potentially life-threatening disorders (I know of at least 2 cases where parents listened to that kind of drivel, with dire consequences) ... of course, the "psychic" isn't the one who will have to foot the bill for his ignorant blather :mad:

[osmosis]

This makes me kinda angry. I have ADD and wasn't diagnosed until about a year ago, at the age of 31. Growing up with ADD is NOT a fun experience, and I really wish buttmunches like this guy wouldn't make things harder for others by spewing whatever crap he feels like spewing.

[Locknar]

Osmosis - But did you know that Chris Fleming was going to say this?

Ok...a poor attempt at humor.

Seriously though, what he advocates is truly bull not to mention dangerous. There are lots of folks, such as yourself, that have gone though their lives undiagnosed and untreated. Speculating that anyone with psychiatric problems are psychic...I'd have to say the "show me the evidence".

The truly sad part...there are folks that will believe him. More the pitty.

[Helpless Kitten]

I feel for you Osmosis. I was at least diagnosed much younger but this is almost as bad as those folks who believe ADD or Dyslexia are not real. Just try giving some of the common ADHD medications to someone who doesn't have the condition, hehe. (Most comon medications for ADHD are stimulents because the brain chemical diference that causes ADHD actually treats many stimulents as depresants, caffinee works well...puts me right to sleep).

[JJR]

Yeah, I would say that the ways in which Psychics can do harm are many, and this is just one example of thousands. I suppose some psychichs, in some situations are harmless, but more often than not their activities no doubt has harmful consequenses. The moments of harmless fun and entertainment, can't be worth all this damage.

Yeah . .. I'm always at least . .. trying to think about the meanings that could be taken from what I say on here and elsewhere, and these days I never get inebriated beyond the point of being able to win the basic argument. Good standard for a responsible stance. At this level of sobriety, you'd probably have advantages if you had to rescue kids from a burning building, instead of it hampering you.

Sheesh. People will say or do anything for a buck. Another generalization, of course but still . . .

[JJR]

I feel for you Osmosis. I was at least diagnosed much younger but this is almost as bad as those folks who believe ADD or Dyslexia are not real. Just try giving some of the common ADHD medications to someone who doesn't have the condition, hehe. (Most comon medications for ADHD are stimulents because the brain chemical diference that causes ADHD actually treats many stimulents as depresants, caffinee works well...puts me right to sleep).

Ya. My friends stepson had to take stimulants to calm down. Good boy.

[SRW]

I feel for you Osmosis. I was at least diagnosed much younger but this is almost as bad as those folks who believe ADD or Dyslexia are not real. Just try giving some of the common ADHD medications to someone who doesn't have the condition, hehe. (Most comon medications for ADHD are stimulents because the brain chemical diference that causes ADHD actually treats many stimulents as depresants, caffinee works well...puts me right to sleep).

Luckily my Dyslexia was discovered before all the new age claptrap came about. Otherwise I might still be thinking I was an Indigo or star child or some other "special" group. I just have to live with the fact that I have a run of the mill learning disorder. I cuda been special I cuda been a contender... All that working my ass of was such drag I should have been told I was the incarnate of Chaucer's are making up my own spelling was just fine.

[Helpless Kitten]

Ya. My friends stepson had to take stimulants to calm down. Good boy.

When I was working as a sunday school teacher (Unitarian Universalist) we had this one kid with extreem ADHD. Poor kid was so eager to please, kind and gentle...he would actually grip the edge of his chair in an atempt to sit still.

It broke my heart just watching that poor child strugle with his phisical limitations and often fail

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Are psychics harmless?

I've only been to a psychic once in my life when I was 15 and the psychic and palm reader told me and my friend a bunch of harmless fluff about boys and who we'll marry and the children we'd have and if we'd ever be rich and how old we'd live to be.

Nothing damaging in the long term but I'm still angry at her, even after all of those years. For taking our money, for lying to us and for implanting something like that in our minds, even if it was relatively benign.

I believed what she had told me for a long time and to this day, thinking back to the incident, a small part of me holds out the hope that what she told me could have been real.

[Becky78]

I believed what she had told me for a long time and to this day, thinking back to the incident, a small part of me holds out the hope that what she told me could have been real.

This is exactly like me - the stuff the psychic told me was harmless enough, but it so could have not been. I still look for things that she said in things that happen even though I know it was a load of rubbish.

She said some stuff about someone in my family getting ill and having to have surgery, but that they would be OK. My partners mother got cancer and I thought this related to what the "psychic" had said. She did recover and by then I had found this forum and realised the "psychic" was full of crap, but imagine if I pinned my hopes on her getting better because this woman told me that and she didn't get better - how bad would that have been?

[Brattus]

When I was about 17 I took my GF at the time to the state fair. They of course had a fotune teller. My GF wanted to go in and was very excited about it. I tried to talk her out of it and plus it cost $10. She wanted to go in and so we did. I was not happy to say the least. The woman came out from behind a cutain and made a big show of sitting down and warming up her tarot cards.
She then took my GF hands and look at both of us and said "you both know I'm an entertainer right? This is all for fun."
Then I seen a sign she had hanging saying the samething.
Well shoot! After that I came off the $10 no problem! My GF had a blast and it really made her day! Stuff like that is harmless. Anything else is crap!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

This is exactly like me - the stuff the psychic told me was harmless enough, but it so could have not been. I still look for things that she said in things that happen even though I know it was a load of rubbish.

She said some stuff about someone in my family getting ill and having to have surgery, but that they would be OK. My partners mother got cancer and I thought this related to what the "psychic" had said. She did recover and by then I had found this forum and realised the "psychic" was full of crap, but imagine if I pinned my hopes on her getting better because this woman told me that and she didn't get better - how bad would that have been?

You said it. I still find myself trying to make the connections.

The psychic told me I'd have a boyfriend by the end of the year and, what do you know, I did but imagine if I took her a little more seriously and thought every boy I met would be my boyfriend. Or if someone hadn't shown up- how disappointed I'd be.

She told me I'd never be married and that I'd have children out of marriage and never become very successful- what if I had resigned myself to that?

She told me I'd live to be 92- the danger there is obvious.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

When I was about 17 I took my GF at the time to the state fair. They of course had a fotune teller. My GF wanted to go in and was very excited about it. I tried to talk her out of it and plus it cost $10. She wanted to go in and so we did. I was not happy to say the least. The woman came out from behind a cutain and made a big show of sitting down and warming up her tarot cards.
She then took my GF hands and look at both of us and said "you both know I'm an entertainer right? This is all for fun."
Then I seen a sign she had hanging saying the samething.
Well shoot! After that I came off the $10 no problem! My GF had a blast and it really made her day! Stuff like that is harmless. Anything else is crap!

The same thing happened to me. I was out with a friend and she zeroed in on a psychic's shop and tried as I did to talk her out of it and as unhappy as I was to spend that unreasonable amount of money, she dragged me in.

I was entertained and treated it as an adventure but I don't think it was harmless. I lived with those ideas for a long time even though I didn't believe her 100%.

[Becky78]

She told me I'd never be married and that I'd have children out of marriage and never become very successful- what if I had resigned myself to that?

That's awful - how much harm could that have done - you could have really taken that to heart and done something silly. If you are going to "entertain" people then make it entertaining and lighthearted - that's life changing stuff!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

It's awful but I can understand why she said that.

I think every 15-year-old girl wants to know if she'll ever get married and to whom and how and if she'll have children and how many, boys or girls and what their names will be. That's something my friend and I used to discuss between ourselves alot- something the psychic must have picked up on.

Alot of kids around 15 are thinking of their future, too. Dreams of wealth and success aren't uncommon; my friend and I often talked about one day being rich, too. The psychic must have intuited that, too.

So based on our clothes and physical appearance, she gave us a reasonable guess.