Phone Dependency Therapy · Online, in English

You opened your phone without thinking. When you looked up, forty minutes had passed

You promised yourself five minutes before bed, then checked the clock and it was one a.m. It wasn't the first time. Professional psychological support to understand what your phone is actually solving for you in your day-to-day — not to judge how much you use it — and build a change that actually holds.

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100% Online

Confidential

Systemic Approach

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First Assessment Session

A first session to understand what function your phone serves in your day-to-day and shape the process together. You decide with real information, not blindly.

US$25US$49.9950%

60 min · Video call

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The moment you already know

It's not a lack of willpower. It's a pattern with its own logic.

You open your phone to check one message, and a few apps later you don't even remember what you were looking for. You look up and forty minutes went by that you never decided to spend that way. You promise yourself five minutes before bed and end up checking the time: one a.m., two a.m. Afterward you feel bad about it, which — again — leaves you with even less energy to try something different.

It's not that you lack character. The phone is built to hook you, and it's almost always solving something for your mind in that moment — even if you don't notice what. Understanding that pattern, without guilt, is where we start.

My approach

This is how I understand phone dependency in therapy

I don't look at phone use as a character flaw. I look at it as a response with its own logic — one that can be understood and changed.

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Why it hooks you so much

When a reward arrives the same way every time, your attention settles down and stops reacting so much to it. When it arrives sometimes yes and sometimes no — one message that matters among ten that don't, one video that actually grabs you among thirty that don't — your attention stays on alert, waiting for the next one. That's how a slot machine works, and it's how a feed works when you never know what you'll see on the next swipe. Getting hooked isn't a lack of character: it's how any attention reacts when it's exposed to that pattern.

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What the phone is covering for you

Almost always, the phone is solving something else: boredom in a line or a meeting, anxiety that eases a little when your hands are occupied, a hard conversation you can put off a bit longer by checking your phone, the silence of being alone with your own head. The phone is almost never the problem itself — it's the solution you found for a different problem.

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Why quitting cold turkey doesn't work

Deleting the apps, leaving your phone in another room, going dark for a whole weekend — these are reasonable attempts, but they attack the symptom and leave whatever the phone was covering for untouched. That boredom, that anxiety, or that pending conversation is still there, so the urge comes back. We work by identifying what function the use serves and building a change you can actually sustain.

Ricardo De Castro King — Clinical Psychologist

Who's with you

I'm Ricardo, and you won't be alone in this

I'm a clinical psychologist with more than 15 years of experience, trained in systemic family therapy. But before any title, I'm someone who understands what it's like to hold two languages and two worlds at once. Many of the people I work with in English open their phone the same way you do — to a family group chat that runs in Spanish, in the middle of a life that runs in English. You don't have to explain that part to me first.

This pattern is easier to work through with someone next to you. If this feels like the moment, let's take the first step together — at your pace, no pressure.

Master's in Systemic Family Therapy

Universidad Simón Bolívar

Clinical Psychologist

15+ years of clinical experience

University Professor

16 years teaching psychology

Clinical Approach

Evidence-based

Licensed Psychologist · Professional License 106127 (COLPSIC, Colombia)

Ricardo is licensed as a psychologist in Colombia (Professional License 106127) and works with international clients in private practice. He does not prescribe medication. Rules on cross-border online therapy vary by country and by state, so it's worth checking what applies where you live — and this never replaces local emergency care.

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You've already tried

Blocking apps, leaving it in another room, deleting the app — and you went back. That's not a failure on your part.

You've probably already installed an app that blocks your phone after a certain hour. Maybe you left it charging in the kitchen so it wouldn't be in your room. Maybe you deleted an entire social app one Sunday, determined, and reinstalled it two weeks later. None of that was wrong — those were reasonable attempts with the information you had at the time. You went back because those strategies change access to the phone, but they don't touch what the phone was solving for you: if the boredom, the anxiety, or the need to avoid something was still there, the phone — or something like it — found its way back. That's worked through differently: not with more willpower, but by understanding what's underneath.

Therapy for Latinos, here and abroad

If you live far from home, the phone isn't just a screen

I see clients online in Colombia and abroad. And here's a pattern that shows up in session with people who migrated: the phone isn't just entertainment — it's the real thread to the people who stayed behind. The family group chat, the Sunday video call with mom, the photos your sister sends. Telling someone to "just turn it off" ignores all of that completely: for a migrant, putting the phone down can feel like abandoning the people who stayed there.

That's why this isn't about using your phone less in general. It's about telling the Sunday video call apart from the aimless scroll at one in the morning — two very different things, even though they happen on the same screen. We look at that carefully, without lumping it all into the same bucket.

How we start

A clear first step, no pressure

You book your assessment session

Message me on WhatsApp or leave your details in the form. We'll set up a first 60-minute video-call session, at a reduced rate (50% off).

We get to know your situation

In that first session we look at when the phone use that worries you tends to show up, and what you've already tried. No rushed diagnoses — just understanding, together, what's going on.

We shape the process together

You decide with real information, not blindly. If it feels right for you, we agree on a process built around you. If not, I'll still point you toward what you need.

Your first step

Start with an assessment session

A first session to meet each other and shape your process. Reduced rate, so you decide with real information, not out of obligation.

US$25US$49.9950%

60 minutes · Video call · 100% confidential

Book My Assessment Session

Want to explore first?

Do you feel like there's anxiety behind it?

Sometimes phone use is tied to something else — anxiety, trouble being alone, avoiding a specific situation. If you want to look at that part first, here's more on how I work with anxiety.

Anxiety Therapy in English

Before you book

Frequently asked questions

Is this phone addiction?

It isn't classified that way in the diagnostic manual for general screen use in an adult. What we work with in session is the use pattern that's costing you something — time, sleep, presence with the people you care about — and what function that use serves for you. We define that together, without rushing to a label.

How is this different from a blocking app or a digital detox?

Blocking apps and digital detoxes act on access to the phone. Therapy works with what the phone is resolving for you — boredom, anxiety, avoidance, loneliness — which stays there even if you block access.

How long does the process take?

It varies depending on your situation; we define that together after the first session.

I live outside Colombia — can I still do therapy with you?

Yes. I see clients online in Colombia and abroad, by video call, with scheduling that adapts to different time zones.

How much does the first session cost?

US$25 (50% off the regular US$49.99 rate), 60 minutes by video call.

Prefer to talk first?

Message me and I'll answer personally

If you're not ready to book and would rather tell me a bit first, message me on WhatsApp or leave your details below. I answer personally within 24 hours, no obligation.

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📍 Online · Barranquilla, Colombia

🕑 Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm · Sat 9am - 1pm (Colombia time)