diff --git a/lib/node-redis-pubsub.js b/lib/node-redis-pubsub.js
index 460d740..4615e96 100644
--- a/lib/node-redis-pubsub.js
+++ b/lib/node-redis-pubsub.js
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ function NodeRedisPubsub(options){
 
   this.receiver.setMaxListeners(0);
   this.prefix = options.scope ? options.scope + ':' : '';
+  this.channelRefCountMap = new ChannelRefCountMap();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -80,12 +81,14 @@ NodeRedisPubsub.prototype.on = NodeRedisPubsub.prototype.subscribe = function(ch
   };
 
   this.receiver.on('pmessage', pmessageHandler);
-
   this.receiver.psubscribe(this.prefix + channel, callback);
+  this.channelRefCountMap.increment(this.prefix + channel);
 
   var removeListener = function(callback){
     self.receiver.removeListener('pmessage', pmessageHandler);
-    return self.receiver.punsubscribe(self.prefix + channel, callback);
+    if (self.channelRefCountMap.decrement(self.prefix + channel)){
+      return self.receiver.punsubscribe(self.prefix + channel, callback);
+    }
   };
 
   return removeListener;
@@ -116,4 +119,44 @@ NodeRedisPubsub.prototype.end = function() {
   this.receiver.end();
 };
 
+
+/**
+ * Create a map that stores how many listeners we have for each pattern we subscribed on.
+ */
+function ChannelRefCountMap(){
+  this.map = {};
+}
+
+/**
+ * Increment by 1 the ref count of that channel
+ * @param {String} channel Channel of which to increment the ref count
+ */
+ChannelRefCountMap.prototype.increment = function(channel){
+  if (!this.map[channel]){
+    this.map[channel] = 1;
+  } else {
+    this.map[channel] = this.map[channel] + 1;
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Decrement by 1 the ref count of that channel
+ * @param {String} channel Channel of which to decrement the ref count
+ * @return {bool} true if the ref count has reached zero, false otherwise.
+ */
+ChannelRefCountMap.prototype.decrement = function(channel){
+  if (!this.map[channel]){
+    throw new Error("Trying to decrement ref count of channel '" + channel + "' more times than it was incremented.");
+  }
+
+  this.map[channel] = this.map[channel] - 1;
+
+  if (this.map[channel] === 0){
+    delete this.map[channel];
+    return true;
+  } else {
+    return false;
+  }
+};
+
 module.exports = NodeRedisPubsub;