（麻薬）常用者d to psychics: She's spent £25,000 on fortune-tellers, ダンピング friends and even her first husband on their say-so. Samantha Brick knew she was a 襲う，襲って強奪する. So why couldn't she kick the habit?

By Samantha Brick

Published: 01:15 BST, 17 May 2013 | Updated: 09:27 BST, 17 May 2013

Mystic Samantha: Writer Samantha Brick became so enthralled by psychics that she let one move in with her and lent another money

For years, before getting into bed each night, I would swallow a glass of warm milk with a mysterious 砕く stirred into it, then carefully slip a yellow scarf under my pillowcase.

The logic for this strange ritual? Simple. I was に引き続いて advice given to me by the 最新の in a long line of psychic s I’ve 協議するd over the past 20 years.

The yellow fabric was 恐らく weaved in a special way to 促進する fertility and together with the 砕く ― 輸入するd, 明らかに, from イスラエル ― would 保証（人） that before long I’d have a baby in my 武器.

Gullible? Yes, I was. Desperate? Even more so.

It wasn’t as if the psychic needed any special 力／強力にするs to work out that I was struggling to conceive. My teary 返答 to her 調査: ‘Do you have any children?’ gave her all the 弾薬／武器 she needed.

It’s only now that I realise the ritual she 定める／命ずるd was nothing short of farcical, not to について言及する dangerous: to this day I’ve no idea what was in the concoction she made me swallow. And, needless to say, I’m still not 妊娠している.

Yet this wasn’t the first ― or last ― time I would be a psychic’s credulous prey.

It’s not something I’m proud of, but I 自白する that I have blown £25,000 on ‘advice’ and ‘指導／手引’ from countless unscrupulous women (and in my 事例／患者 they were nearly always women) who （人命などを）奪う，主張するd that they could not only see into my 未来 ― but had my best 利益／興味s at heart.

Bitter experience has taught me that nothing was その上の from the truth.

When my psychic 中毒 had me in its tightest 支配する, I cravenly 行為／法令／行動するd on life-changing ‘advice’, 含むing ending my marriage and ダンピング friends at 無作為の.

I was reminded of this rather desperate period of my life when I heard the story of Jim Gotobed, who was this week （疑いを）晴らすd in 法廷，裁判所 of 悩ますing his 女性（の） psychic, Tracie Long, a woman he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd destroyed his marriage and cost him £12,000.

Ms Long not only 教えるd Gotobed to leave his wife, but arranged for his 収入s to be paid 直接／まっすぐに into her account. He also やめる his 職業 when she told him to because, she said, he didn’t earn enough.

M r Gotobed told Chlemsford 治安判事s that he felt ‘hypnotised’ after her 開会／開廷／会期s. He now 収容する／認めるs he had been ‘gullible’ and says: ‘I realise now she was after my money.’ It’s all too 平易な to snigger, but 現実に what happened to poor Mr Gotobed is, I believe, the tip of the iceberg.

Ms Long, along with thousands of others, plies her 貿易（する） without 規則 or a 合法的な 枠組み. 商売／仕事 in the UK psychic 産業 ― 概算の to be 価値（がある） around £100?million a year ― is にわか景気ing, and is 大部分は driven by middle-老年の women like myself struggling with 結婚の／夫婦の 決裂／故障s and career 圧力s.

We turn to psychic readings, tarot cards, astrology phone lines, clairvoyants or spiritual lifestyle gurus because we’re desperate for 指導／手引 and 安心. It’s 平易な to assume that women like me have ‘襲う，襲って強奪する’ stamped on our 長，率いるs ― when in fact we’re likely to be university-educated and 収入 anything up to a six-人物／姿／数字 salary.

The first psychic I saw when I was a 攻撃を受けやすい 20-something starting out in the TV 産業 was an 年輩の gentleman called Matthew.

犠牲者: Jim Gotobed (権利) from Romford, Essex, told a 法廷，裁判所 that he （機の）カム out of each Tarot 開会／開廷／会期 'more 深く，強烈に in love' with his psychic Tracie Long (left)

The only male psychic I’ve ever 協議するd, he made 確信して decla rations about my profession and where I lived that were 全く wrong, but seemed to 申し込む／申し出 some insight into my 悲惨な love life. So, overlooking the glaring errors in his 予測s, I continued to fork out £60 an hour to see him.

Relations with Matthew fizzled out, but my obsession with psychics took 会社／堅い 持つ／拘留する in my 中央の-20s, when I 安全な・保証するd a high-profile 役割 in television.

Interestingly, I wasn’t seen as an 半端物-ball or a flake for my bizarre predilection ― far from it. 捜し出すing esoteric ‘advice’ is the norm in television, an 産業 I worked in for nearly 20 years.

During this time the individuals I （機の）カム across, all through 接触するs in the マスコミ, eschewed the わずかに （名声などを）汚すd label of ‘psychic’. Instead they went by a variety of other trendy nomenclatures ― ‘gurus’, ‘極度の慎重さを要するs’, ‘healers’, ‘soul therapists’ ― and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d anywhere from £60 to £500 an hour. I began seeing anyone, once a month on 普通の／平均（する）, who （人命などを）奪う，主張するd they could 予報する my, at the time, 極端に 不安定な 未来.

Going from one short-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 契約 to another within the 削減（する）-throat world of the マスコミ, I was utterly seduced by the notion that, in 交流 for my hard-earned money, I could genuinely be guided to a happy and 実行するing 未来.

攻撃を受けやすい: Samantha Brick was in her 20s when she turned to psychic, looking for insight into her 悲惨な love life

In my late 20s, things took a 悪意のある turn. I paid £120 for an hour’s reading in a ritzy Central London hotel. This psychic referred me to her guru in Gloucestershire, who I travelled to stay with every 週末 for almost a year. I spent a generous four-人物／姿／数字 sum on the guru’s services during this time.

It’s a mortifying admission to make. What was I, a 井戸／弁護士席-educated, successful woman, thinking?
I stopped 協議するing her only when she （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to have ‘設立する’ me a romantic partner ― even I realised I should probably select my own husband.

By my 早期に 30s, I was just one of a growing number of successful women reliant on the psychic 産業 to help them make major life 決定／判定勝ち（する）s ― I was even featuring them in my television shows.

Paranormal programming was in vogue and all types of spooks and wacko women （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 a path to my door. I auditioned psychic after psychic as part of my ‘work’. And the 実験（する） I 始める，決める them? To tell me all about myself.

The tipping point （機の）カム when one psychic I interviewed, with echoes of Mr Gotobed’s experience, 知らせるd me my marriage was over. I believed her, and did just what she said: walked away.

I had married my childhood sweetheart a year before. While I’d known him for 15 years, by the time we walked up the aisle, our 関係 had always been tumultuous. We 分裂（する） up 絶えず, before 再会させるing with 広大な／多数の／重要な passion.

After a 特に high-octane, emotional 再会, we 急ぐd into marriage ― only for it to become obvious, when the dust had settled from the 儀式, that we weren’t in the least bit 両立できる.

I can see with the 利益 of hindsight that my marriage was always doomed ― indeed, I remember thinking it after our honeymoon ― but it took the psychic to say it for me to believe it.

Today, I almost can’t believe that I took this momentous, life-changing 決定／判定勝ち（する） on the advice of a woman who barely knew me. A 15-year 関係 was 派遣（する）d on her word ― and while our 共同 would have failed anyway, I still feel a shiver that I was so in thrall to psychics that I ended things without so much as a question.

Credulous: Samantha was so 脅すd of one of her psychics that she felt she had 悪口を言う／悪態d her

Yet the real 推論する／理由 Mr Gotobed’s vindication by the 裁判官 struck such a chord with me is this ― I also 試みる／企てるd to take one psychic ‘friend’ to 法廷，裁判所. The difference is that I never had the courage to see the 事例／患者 through. It may sound utterly ridiculous, but at the time I was terrified of her ‘力／強力にする’.

At 34, I was introduced to Alice by yet another 井戸／弁護士席-meaning 同僚. Alice 申し込む／申し出d me a reading for fre e (the first reading often is complimentary). While most of her guesses were wildly off the 示す, one struck home. That my dog was dying. It was all I needed to believe she was the real 取引，協定.
For my beloved old English Sheepdog, Dylan, did have 癌. And I was terrified he was going to die ― which he did, three months later.

It seemed 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の that the psychic knew about Dylan so instinctively ― indeed, her 声明 about his death （機の）カム 完全に out of nowhere, without a 選び出す／独身 手がかり（を与える） from me.

Today, I can only rationalise it in one way: as is ありふれた with psychics, this woman was recommended to me by a 同僚. Who knows what tips or 手がかり（を与える）s she had passed on to the psychic before I had had my first 協議?

Before long, though, I had taken this psychic under my wing. I was buying her cigarettes and alcohol, and arranging for her to 会合，会う with my celebrity 接触するs. I even 許すd her to live with me for a while.

By now Alice had starting borrowing money from me. At first the sums were small enough to be insignificant, yet soon her 負債 with me was more than £5,000.

入り口d: Samantha 信用d her psychic so much that she walked away from her first marriage on her advice

My rude awakening （機の）カム when I asked her how much she 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d her （弁護士の）依頼人s. When she casually replied it depended how rich they were, I finally cottoned on.

Unsurprisingly, she 辞退するd to return my money and so I 追求するd her through a small （人命などを）奪う，主張するs 法廷，裁判所. Yet I 支援するd out at the last minute, because I was too 脅すd of the ‘持つ／拘留する’ I thought she had over me.

Call me an idiot, but it was around this time that strange and inexplicable things started happening in my home ― lights going on and off, strange noises emanated from her former bedroom, my dogs would bark at seemingly nothing at night ― and I, genuinely terrified, preferred to 身を引く my （人命などを）奪う，主張する. It felt like she had 悪口を言う／悪態d me.

I understand how ridiculous this all sounds. And again, in hindsight, I can see that I was just another gullible woman who had fallen for such quackery.

Psychics work in a woefully unregulated 産業 where 攻撃を受けやすい, foolish people like myself and Mr Gotobed are routinely taken advantage of. Goodness only knows how much 損失 they are wreaking on people’s lives.

My terrible experience with Alice gave me the 揺さぶる I needed to jettison psychics from my life for ever, but other women like the person I used to be ― gullible, neurotic and, I hate to 収容する／認める it, self-obsessed ― should beware. We are 平易な prey for these charlatans.