Biblio Attachment Disorder is just another of disorders in the long lists that psychologists have founded. Some speculate BAD couldn’t be too serious until a family reported a dissociative effect in their daughter, Samantha. “We weren’t sure exactly what it was, but she was despondent. Something clearly was wrong, something that she wasn’t telling us.” The parents went on later to say that Samantha kept on that they had not the capability to understand the words she could not find.
What exactly did Samantha mean? Unfortunately, many more like Samantha suffer from some incomprehensible obsession for words and the usage of them. So much, in fact, that they themselves can loose themselves. In Samantha’s case, she became dissociative and despondent.
So what is Biblio Attachment Disorder? Psychologists had trouble in the beginning with labeling patients with BAD, but were able to corner it down. In its simple nature, BAD is the intense emotional relationship between contexts of words. BAD is not a bibliophile. Under a microscope, a person with BAD is a person obsessed with books or written words. Biblio Attachment Disorder contains such a strong attachment that those suffering from them will feel a sense of loss when without words or contexts of written things. Some studies show that people can prove the same with paintings, but this is rare. BAD has an extreme consequence, consequences that go further than despondency and can even trigger unbalance in the brain that may lead to depression.

Psychoanalysis, Dr. John – Earl Rathbun studies the causes and effects of BAD. In one study, he kept all patients with BAD in their happiest environments – the library. He kept them in for several hours, and not once did they complain for any social contact; so long as they were reading. However, when the books were taken away, and they were lead outside, Rathbun reported, “They were completely lost. Not in the way that they didn’t know where to go, but they were thinking just way too hard.”

Why is it that this is causing such a great concern? Rathbum answers sympathetically, “Whereas it is good to read, reading too much can cause the reader to ‘float away’. This is their means to escape reality. Everything that the patient wanted to know was in a book or other written context, and when they wanted to know something they would continue reading and discover the answer. For them to come back into reality and not find the answers as quickly frightens them and gives them a ‘loss’ sense. That’s when the patient picks up another book and reads.”

Rathbun always wanted to conclude that the patients did not care for anything else other than the plot of the story they were reading. Family was being neglected, and in some studies the readers weren’t paying attention in class but reading with a book under the table.

Librarians across the nation have asked countless of times “How does one diagnose someone with BAD? Does everyone who read in the library have BAD?” Research from Rathbun’s 2001 experiment with the patients in the library concluded that not all the patients were despondent. He reports that it is healthy to read, and read and read, but not when a reader becomes despondent.

Symptoms have come down to a few major things. First, people should look for those who check out the limit of books and see if they finished reading the books in the limit of three days. “This may mean they have a lot of time on their hands,” Says Rathbun seriously. “Or it could mean that they aren’t paying attention to what little time they do have to complete what needs to be done.”

Secondly, the effects of a book on a particular person. Although many can agree that every book can have an effect, it should not give them despondency. “Notice if they change. The way they look, the way they talk. Even if you find out that their thinking process is working differently. If you hear them talking about ‘losing’ themselves in the book, that right there is a red flag. This is the first phase of BAD. The person is giving in to the dissociation and forgetting who they really are – even going as far as to try to find some hidden meaning, which may, in the end, cause great confusion of the mind.”

Lastly, Rathbun confides that another symptom can prove fatal. He says to local librarians, “Find out how they react when you don’t have something for them to read. If they are okay and do something else for leisure, that’s fine. However, if they scavenge or even go as far as to acting despondent, that’s a whole other story.”

Patients with BAD aren’t cured easily. Scientists relate to the problem like addiction. “Heroin addicts aren’t going to quit when you take what they need away. They are going to have to find something else that will give them that high.” Same with those diagnosed with BAD. Rathbun has been studying different cures to BAD, associating the readers like addicts.

“You have to wean them off at first.” Rathbun says sullenly, concluding that it isn’t easy. His colleagues have tried everything, from walks to music. “Sometimes it works. Sometimes they actually put the book down and hang out with friends. Sometimes they act like real teenagers. But most of the time, you can’t stop them. Period.”

The seriousness of Biblio Attachment Disorder doesn’t worry many psychologists like Rathbun, but it is starting to be taken into consideration. Why does that person read so much? Question arise like, is that person trying to hide from some reality? What answers are they trying to find? Psychologists and therapists, as well as school counselors, have realized that those suffering from Biblio Attachment Disorder think a little too harshly, but in many cases they cannot decipher it. Is it just that they think too much? Could it really be BAD?