Table of contents:
- Characteristics of telephone tarot addiction
- Functional analysis
- Treatment of telephone tarot addiction
- Difficulties in Evaluation and Treatment
By Miguel J. Perelló and Consuelo Martínez. February 6, 2018
In this PsicologíaOnline article, we want to comment on telephone addiction and specifically the “addiction to divination lines”, since perhaps anecdotally and not in a statistically significant way, we have seen several cases of this type over the last year. Previously, we began to see other cases related to the maladaptive use of the telephone, such as addiction to erotic lines (Martínez and Perelló, 2000) and addictions to mobile phones. All of them with a common component: the maladaptive use of the telephone.
You may also be interested in: Internet Addiction Index- Characteristics of telephone tarot addiction
- Functional analysis
- Treatment of telephone tarot addiction
- Difficulties in Evaluation and Treatment
Characteristics of telephone tarot addiction
The essential characteristics of this problem are:
- Subjects usually have magical beliefs related to the paranormal and / or like, even if playfully: tarot, divination cards, going to seers, consulting horoscopes, etc. So the beginning of this problem is by positive reinforcement.
- From a stressful event and for which they cannot find a rational explanation (eg emotional breakdown, loss of job…) they go in search of an explanation to the paranormal.
- When they turn to these explanations they find great relief from immediate and short-term discomfort.
- Little by little they experience an intense desire to call.
- They spend a large part of the day while doing other activities thinking about calling and the frequency of calls is increasing.
- They develop the compulsive behavior of calling the divination lines before any doubt or situation that causes them uncertainty. They perform, in many cases, obsessive-compulsive behavior. They call from one number to another until they say something that alleviates their discomfort.
- The doubts that assail them are usually directed to four main themes: love and work mainly, followed by searching for information about their social and family relationships, and finally money and health (this refers to the cases that we have seen).
- This type of behavior is hidden, since it causes them shame, and in some cases there is a tendency to downplay it. Feelings of guilt and thoughts of worthlessness appear after calling.
- As behavior takes hold, other appropriate coping strategies become impoverished. (For example, if they have to use suitable job search or training strategies, they stop doing them because they think that according to what they have been told in the divination line, the future holds a great job for them).
- They come for consultation after receiving a high-priced telephone bill. The functionality of the high telephone amount is a long-term punishment (1 or 2 months after having carried out the conduct).
Functional analysis
The external stimuli are usually: the same telephone or places where these lines are advertised (magazines, TV ads…), being at home and alone. Also, depending on the idiosyncrasy of each case, external triggers can be people, places and situations. For example, a person has separated from the couple, when they see the couple, talk to them or someone tells them something about them, they raise the problem behavior (call to see if they will return).
The internal stimuli states negative emotional (anxiety, sadness, boredom, feelings of loneliness); memories of negative past situations (eg separation, dismissal from a job); tiredness, physical decline.
The most frequent responses that we have evaluated in our clients are:
- Cognitive: rumination on the subject that worries you; negative thoughts about themselves (low self-esteem) and the future; and intrusive thoughts (or internal urges to call).
- Physiological: nervousness, especially gastrointestinal disturbances (very similar to drug craving, but described with less intensity).
- Motor boat: Number search (magazines, advertisements, agenda); Calling compulsively until they experience relief from anxiety, this occurs after calling multiple numbers. They tend to try different numbers and change over time. Regarding the frequency and duration of calls (evaluated by telephone bills) it is very varied, it goes from 1 minute to the maximum allowed by companies (approximately 35 minutes) and they usually call daily. We have also observed deficits in adequate behaviors to cope with their problems.
The consequences temporarily appear in this order:
- Negative internal reinforcement (relief of discomfort).
- Self-punishment: shame, guilt, feelings of worthlessness, which in many cases cause them to keep calling to alleviate them.
- External punishment of family and friends for calling (they are told off) and the punishment that represents the high cost of calls when they receive the telephone bill.
- Another consequence that may appear is the positive social reinforcement of the client's environment towards the paranormal and that close people also make use of these lines or other means of divination. Being the reinforcement pattern in all the cases that we have seen intermittent.
As can be seen, Functional Analysis from a technical point of view is fascinating, and it brings together all the qualities so that behavior is learned and established in the client.
In the following image, we show an example of a functional sequence.
Treatment of telephone tarot addiction
The treatment techniques that we have used to be able to quit the addiction to telephone tarot are the following:
- Advantages / disadvantages of calling
- Stimulus control
- Cognitive therapy (not about intrusive thoughts, if there are any; or whether they are right or wrong; the facilitating thoughts of negative calls and thoughts are worked on)
- Behavioral experiments
- Exposure and response prevention
- Problem resolution
- Relapse prevention, very important
If there is another associated problem:
- Stimulus control, and during the stimulus control phase we work on the problem or skill deficit (social skills, job search skills and / or flirting skills). After this, work continues on exposure and prevention of responses and prevention of relapses.
Difficulties in Evaluation and Treatment
The problems that usually appear in evaluation interviews are:
- Difficulty in telling about the problem because they are embarrassed, and they tend to downplay it; some clients arrive with low motivation, which makes adherence to treatment difficult: they tend to seek quick solutions, and even in some cases, magical ones; Or, they don't openly acknowledge that they have a problem.
- Ingrained beliefs about divination and the paranormal. It is not worth arguing with clients about whether or not there are paranormal or similar powers, for many of them it is a matter of faith. It is best to directly address the problem and focus the therapy on “no call”.
The problems regarding treatment are:
- Difficulties in the control of stimuli, on the one hand, the great accessibility to a telephone, and on the other, the difficulties that telephone companies make to restrict this type of calls.
- Relapses are very common, you have to train in various skills and dedicate a phase of treatment to preventing relapses.
They are not easy cases since the quick access that you can have to a telephone and the ease of contacting this type of lines makes it possible to call at any time and in any place, also the people who attend these lines usually give them good news about the area that they consult, relieving anxiety immediately but always in the very short term. The speed, accessibility and information provided by clairvoyance lines appear to contribute to the potential for addiction, in the same way that the speed of absorption of a drug is directly proportional to the addictive potential of the drug (Greenfield, 1999).
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Telephone tarot addiction: characteristics and treatment, we recommend that you enter our Addictions category.
Bibliography- Greenfield, DN (1999). The nature of Internet Addiction: Psychological factors in compulsive internet use. Presented at APA meetings in Boston, Massachusetts, August 20, 1999. Available at:
- Greenfield, DN (1999). Virtual Addiction: Help for Netheads, Cyber Freaks, and Those who love them . Oakland: New Harbinger Publications.
- Martínez, C. and Perelló, MJ (2000): Intervention in an Addiction Disorder to Erotic Lines. Paper presented at the I Symposium on clinical cases of psychopathological disorders, Spanish Association of Behavioral Psychology, Granada, May, 2000.