Psychic mediumship is one of many categories of psychic abilities and services identified by the American Association of Psychics (AAP), an organization of individual consultants and contractors in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. On its website, the AAP lists more than 20 categories of psychics, who work to improve the quality of life for their clients.
A partial list of psychics includes astrologers, clairvoyants, and numerologists – categories known to most and with a history going back to early civilization, according to the Universal Psychic Guild (UPG), an international association with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. The UPG says that psychic powers began with shamans, medicine men, and in tribal rituals. Psychic powers were refined over the millennia, the UPG observes, and today are often equated to the energy of quantum mechanics.
Many Americans appear to accept this view, however loosely. A 2002 poll conducted by CBS News found that most Americans believe in psychic phenomena, such as extra-sensory perception and telepathy.
A report on poll findings said that more Catholics than Protestants believe that psychic phenomena occur. People with some college education were more likely to believe in psychic phenomena than those with less education, the report said, and more women than men reported having experienced psychic phenomena.