The Intersection of Psychics and Therapy

Meditation and even breathwork are considered a new kind of mainstream. These have rituals and show a new line of spiritualism. There are new people who have stepped up to be counselors, and this is psychic services that coincide with psychotherapeutics, but mainstream psychologists are worried that if people don’t understand psychic readings better, they might be taken advantage of.

2022 Study

A study found that 9 out of 10 Americans have a New Age spiritualism belief. This might be believing in numerology, astrology, telepathy, or reincarnation. This is beyond traditional counseling, but it is someone who is interested in spiritualism, who is also a medium, or someone who is able to speak into the spiritual world.

One of the top psychics, Betsy LaFae, is a medium and a former social worker. She teaches students how to tune out negative energy and to find their inner selves. Ashley Torrent is a psychospiritual counselor and medium, and she gives readings and counseling to show human divinity. There are training programs and non-denominational seminaries that are also offered in different places where people can find personal transformation.

According to Psychology Today, there are 39 United States practitioners who call themselves “spiritual therapists,” and more than half of the patients who get counseling said to be more interested in integrating spirituality into their lives.

Psychics or Counselors

Even psychics who steer clear of calling themselves therapists are still tapping into language that sounds more like personal development than prediction. Gone are the days of dollar-a-minute psychic hotlines and neon-lit palm reading shops. Now, it’s sleek apps and curated bios. Kasamba, for example, offers “expert advisors” who claim they’ll help you “find your path to happiness.” Keen, one of the largest online psychic directories, boasts over 14 million clients and more than 45 million “meaningful conversations.” Its leaf-themed logo is strikingly similar to BetterHelp’s therapy emblem. It all feels a little more wellness, a little less woo.

Charles didn’t grow up thinking she’d end up combining therapy and psychic work, at least not publicly. She says her visions began in childhood, predicting births and deaths in her family, but the adults in her life shut them down fast. Eventually, she earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology and began working as a licensed therapist in London. Still, she says her psychic abilities never fully disappeared. During sessions, she’d sometimes “just know” something about a client. When she’d mention it, they’d stop and ask how she knew. “I’ve lost count of how many people asked if I was psychic,” she said. “And I’d just laugh.”

Psychic Psychologists

By 2020, she decided to stop hiding. She went public on Instagram as the “Psychic Psychologist,” which is also the title of her upcoming book. She worried it would ruin her career, but instead, it helped her find a new kind of client. People now come to her because they want that combination of traditional therapy and spiritual insight. She’s careful not to blur the lines, though. “It’s not like I’m telling someone their dead Uncle Bob is in the room,” she explained. “It’s more like saying, ‘I’m sensing this may relate to someone in your family, does that connect with you?” She doesn’t dive into full-on readings during therapy but uses intuition in a way that keeps the work grounded and personal.

For Charles, being open about her spiritual side ended up growing her practice. People are drawn to her story, and many say they feel an instant sense of trust. But not everyone in her field is as upfront. Take John, a 41-year-old from Manchester, who started therapy a couple of years ago to process lingering trauma from his emotionally abusive mother.

At first, things felt safe. His therapist was warm, easy to talk to, and helped him open up. But then something odd happened. One day, while talking about the grief around his mother’s death, the therapist asked his thoughts on mediums and psychic abilities. John told her plainly that he didn’t believe in an afterlife and identified as an atheist. She backed off quickly, and it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. But months later, she encouraged him, out of the blue, to reach out to an ex he hadn’t spoken to in years. Something about it didn’t sit right.

Spiritual Guidance and Mediums

Curious, John Googled her name, and that’s when things clicked. He found another website she hadn’t mentioned, one where she offered spiritual guidance and medium services. To him, it felt like a breach of trust. He had come to her for therapy, not to be nudged by someone who might’ve been tuning into something unspoken, or worse, steering his decisions based on spiritual readings rather than psychological training.

“That moment completely threw me,” John admitted. “When you talk to someone who calls themselves psychic, they usually fall into one of two categories: either they’re knowingly conning people out of their money, or they genuinely believe they have some kind of power. Either way, that’s not the person I want helping me unpack trauma.” He ended the therapy relationship immediately and hasn’t returned to counseling since.

Psychics and Messes

It’s not unusual for people to seek out psychics during life’s messiest chapters. Historically, that’s always been the case. During the Civil War, families grieving loved ones turned to seances for answers. Mary Todd Lincoln famously held spiritual gatherings in the White House, hoping to reach her sons. After World War I, there was another surge in spiritualism, especially among women desperate for just one more connection with lost husbands, fathers, or sons.

Covid

The COVID era brought its own wave of spiritual searching. While many businesses went under during the lockdowns, psychics reported a surprising rise in new clients, people anxious to know when things would return to normal. At the same time, traditional therapy also saw a spike. More people than ever turned to counselors, therapists, and mental health apps. And Gen Z in particular has been open about it: recent surveys show that 60% of Gen Zers say they live with some kind of anxiety disorder, with uncertainty about the future ranking high among their concerns.

That longing for answers may explain why some younger clients are trading in therapy sessions for readings. A recent New York Post article spotlighted this growing trend. One 35-year-old artist explained her choice bluntly: “Therapists don’t rush to solve your problems. It drags on. It’s a really slow process.”

That frustration makes sense. Therapy isn’t designed to hand out clear answers. Ethical therapists don’t tell you what to do; instead, they help you explore your options and find your own direction. They ask hard questions. They reflect patterns back to you. But they won’t give you a map.

Psychics, on the other hand, often do. Whether you believe in their abilities or not, they speak with conviction, sometimes pointing you toward love, career choices, or major life changes. That kind of clarity can be comforting, especially if you’re already feeling overwhelmed or unsure. “Psychics are often more direct than therapists,” said Candy Gunther Brown, a religious studies professor at Indiana University. “They tell you they know your future. That appeal speaks to people who want more than what therapy usually offers.”

For some practitioners, the line between the two worlds isn’t so black and white. Take Xandra Hawes, who wears both hats. On one hand, she’s a licensed professional counselor with two master’s degrees, including one from Naropa University, a school rooted in Buddhist philosophy. On the other hand, she offers spiritual and psychic medium sessions under a separate business name.

Dual Roles

Hawes doesn’t hide her dual roles. She’s upfront about it and draws clear boundaries. For her, it’s about honoring the work. Therapy, she says, is grounded in the body and built on trust and healing. Psychic sessions are something else entirely, like intuitive, symbolic, and often emotional. “There’s a really beautiful overlap between mental health work and spiritual exploration,” she said. “But I won’t bring my intuitive gifts into a therapy session unless the client is grounded and truly ready.”

In Boulder, Colorado, where Hawes practices, that kind of blend isn’t all that surprising. The town is known for its mix of natural healing, yoga retreats, and conscious living. And for Hawes, that intersection feels natural. “Both therapy and psychic work ask the same thing,” she explained. “Am I strong enough to know myself fully? Do I trust what I feel inside? That’s the heart of both paths.”

But when a client seems steady and open to deeper exploration, Xandra Hawes will sometimes weave in what she calls “energy work.” One client, who was aware of Hawes’ intuitive side but came strictly for talk therapy, opened up after losing a close friend to suicide. She shared that she still felt a strong connection to the person who had passed and wondered if there was a way to send a message, not through words, but through energy.

So, during one of their sessions, Hawes invited her to imagine her friend in the room with them. She guided her through a moment of stillness, encouraging her to mentally send that message. “After she did, she said, ‘I know he received it. I felt this warm, full-body tingling,” Hawes remembered.

Emotional Hearing

Emotional healing often overlaps with spiritual searching. It’s not uncommon for therapists to be drawn to energy work, yoga, herbalism, or other holistic practices outside the therapy office. Plenty of social workers also teach meditation, lead retreats, or volunteer at local co-ops, but it’s just part of who they are.

Xandra runs both sides of her work openly, offering traditional counseling on one end and psychic readings on the other. Her clients choose which one they’re coming in for, and she keeps a clear line between the two. That kind of transparency matters. Sarah Sumner, a clinical social worker from Portland, puts it plainly: “Therapists are human, and humans are allowed to make money in more than one way. But it gets tricky when there’s no clear boundary between psychic work and mental health care.”

Blending Mental Health and Psychics

Not everyone in the mental health field is comfortable with this kind of blending. In fact, many therapists strongly advise against it. Dr. Brandon Hamm, a psychiatry professor and ethics specialist at Northwestern University, is one of those voices. He says there’s a serious concern when therapists bring psychic services into the mix, especially if money’s involved. “It’s similar to a doctor who works closely with a drug company and may be influenced when writing prescriptions,” he explained. “A therapist should be focused on what’s best for the client, not on how to grow a side business.”

Hamm also points out that, whether or not the therapist genuinely believes in their psychic skills, there’s a risk either way. “If they truly believe in what they’re offering, you have to ask, is this person guiding me in a helpful direction, or are they unknowingly giving advice based on something that isn’t grounded?” And if they don’t believe it, he added, then it’s even worse, it means the therapist is knowingly misleading someone who’s vulnerable and trusting.

Therapists and Spirituality

That said, therapists are allowed to have spiritual lives, just like anyone else. A counselor can go to church on Sunday and still provide grounded, secular therapy Monday through Friday. And if a psychic-therapist can separate those worlds and respect what a client signed up for, the same idea could apply.

But there’s one thing therapists across the board agree on: honesty matters. Clients have the right to know from the start if their therapist also believes in psychic gifts. They deserve to make that choice for themselves. All of the practitioners interviewed made it clear: they tell clients upfront if they do spiritual work on the side, before the first session even begins.

Hawes understands the skepticism. She knows some people still picture psychics as cartoonish figures wearing scarves, hunched over a glowing orb. But she believes that image is outdated. “The word ‘psychic’ actually comes from the Greek word psukhikos, which means ‘of the soul,’” she said. “More people today are looking for that soulful connection. They want to understand their energy, explore where they’ve been, and get in touch with what’s inside them. That’s not a trick. It’s a desire to feel whole.”

Psychics and Therapy at Work

Many psychics aren’t opposed to therapy at all. In fact, quite a few encourage it. Megan Alisa, who works as a spiritual medium in Orange County, California, sees her work as complementary, not a replacement. She calls herself an evidential psychic, meaning she focuses on bringing through specific details from spirit that can be validated. While she’s taken training, there’s no official license or certification for what she does.

Alisa is clear with her clients about her role. “I never want someone to rely on me the way they might a therapist,” she explained. For her, mediumship works best as a gentle support in someone’s healing journey, not a stand-in for deeper therapeutic work. That’s why she recommends spacing out sessions by at least six months. “It’s something that assists healing, but doesn’t take the place of it,” she said.

Justin Ciorciari, a 22-year-old psychic from New Jersey, sees things the same way, and he also sees a therapist regularly. He values both paths. While his psychic work and spiritual connections give him insight, therapy gives him tools and structure. His therapist even helps him interpret some of the more symbolic messages he receives.

Visions

Recently, Ciorciari had a powerful vision involving two snakes, one red and one blue, dancing together in a kind of cosmic duel. To him, the red snake stood for fire and intense energy, while the blue felt calming and peaceful. He later brought the image into therapy, and his counselor had an interesting take: the snakes mirrored the body’s two nervous systems, red representing the sympathetic (stress mode) and blue representing the parasympathetic (rest and recovery).

Ciorciari found comfort in the overlap. “What the spirit showed me turned out to be something I could understand in psychological terms, too,” he said.

He sees his therapy appointments as just as important as the energy tune-ups he gets from other psychics or the messages he hears from his guides. “Therapy gives me that logical anchor,” he explained. “It keeps my psychic side from floating too far out. Both are part of how I stay balanced.”

Final Thoughts

Therapists are people who are logical, and they have explanations for all things. Psychics have things that they know without explanation. It’s important to know that therapists and psychics are meant to help people and to guide them through their lives.