Ever since the guru of order Marie Kondo warned the world that it is not convenient to have more than 30 books at home, many voices of bibliophiles have risen against her. The truth is that many people have hundreds of books at home and we wonder if it is about bibliophilia or bibliomania. In our hobby dictionary we tell you how the obsession with buying books can become a disorder.
What is bibliomania
Bibliomania is an obsessive compulsive disorder that leads you to buy, acquire or accumulate books in an excessive way. It can be argued that there are never too many books, that there are never too many and that it is a matter of collecting as a result of bibliophilia. But to what extent can it become a problem?
We prefer to put aside the fabulous advice of the guru of order and have more than 30 books at home, but it is also true that in some cases we must worry about those people who have made their passion an obsession and which has subsequently become a disorder. The question is not if you have too many books at home, but if you buy them compulsively.
How to know if you have bibliomania
- That you like books, that you are passionate about reading and that you have hundreds or thousands of books around your house. That it is true that you have not read them all and that many of them do not even intend to read them, that you would have to have 7 lives to be able to read such a number of books, but what harm can books do you? In principle none, but be careful.
- Because the uncontrolled acquisition of books, the obsession with having books and more books and the compulsion to buy and store them at home is what turns an initially positive act into a disorder such as bibliomania. It is not about whether you have the material time to read all your books, but about the reasons that lead you to acquire so many.
- Reasons and consequences, because can you afford to buy so many books? If you’re having trouble making ends meet because of your obsession with books, you clearly have a problem. If you have a small house and you insist on having books and more books as if it were a library, you may have a problem.
- And, above all, if your motivation for taking that book home is that you feel uncontrollable anxiety, you can’t stop thinking about buying that book and you think that if you don’t buy it, something bad will happen to you, it’s because you have this known problem as bibliomania.
Consequences of bibliomania
- Because it is an obsessive-compulsive disorder, because it is an anxiety problem, you can imagine that bibliomania has very negative consequences and not only in the economic aspect. Any obsession has a negative impact, wearing down the emotional balance and thus increasing mental disorders.
- You can’t get that book out of your head, it’s not that you’re too interested in reading it, but that you need to buy it. You go to work and you do not concentrate thinking about that book that you have left on the shelf of the bookstore because you are aware that you have too many books. But you want it, you need to have that book at home and you spend the whole day accumulating obsessive and intrusive thoughts thinking about the book.
- The logical thing is that as soon as you finish working, you go to the bookstore, buy the book and notice how your anxiety eases as soon as you hold it in your hands. But don’t relax too much, because your anxiety will return and you will need to have another book.
Can bibliomania be overcome?
- As a disorder that it is, you have to seek psychological help to overcome bibliomania. And in the case of mania, as in the case of phobias, the most effective is cognitive behavioral therapy. However, it will be the professional who determines the most appropriate treatment.
- Although we do not go crazy thinking that we suffer from bibliomania because we have more than 30 books at home or because our favorite leisure place is a bookstore. Buying books, having books at home is not harmful, quite the opposite. You just have to be attentive to the motivations that lead us to accumulate books without any measure.