Bibliomania: The Uncontrollable Accumulation Of Books
Most books are designed to be attractive. Not only do they have back covers that explain in the most suggestive way possible what can be found within their pages, but the spine, the cover image and often the title express the intention of quickly capturing attention.
bibliomania It can be understood as one of the most extreme consequences of this, since the person who experiences this phenomenon feels intensely attracted to books in physical format. However, it is much more than this.
bibliomania is the tendency to acquire and accumulate books in a compulsive and uncontrolled manner.
It is not considered a mental disorder and in fact does not appear in the DSM-5 diagnostic manuals, but it can be understood as a symptom related to hoarding disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Besides, It should not be confused with bibliophilia either.which is simply the love of books in an abstract sense.
Thus, bibliomania can be used to refer precisely to the way in which a mental disorder is expressed when the accumulation of books produces problems that damage the person’s quality of life, either due to a serious lack of space at home, constant appearance of new debts, lack of social life, problems with hygiene due to excess dust, etc.
How to recognize that there is a hoarding problem?
The accumulation of books is not in itself a bad thing. As is almost always the case with the symptoms of mental disorders, Whether or not bibliomania is a problem depends on a matter of degree: the intensity with which one compulsively buys, the space left free to move around the house, the hygiene conditions of the home, the way in which the fact of accumulating books has an impact on social life, etc.
In addition, we must also take into account the way in which all of the above is related to the person’s purchasing power; It is not the same to reserve 3 rooms as to accumulate hundreds of books if you live with a subsistence income as if you are upper class.
Non-pathological cases
As bibliomania is not a consensual diagnostic category nor is it widely used in the clinical setting, this word is occasionally used to refer in an ironic or humorous tone to the tastes of some “intellectual sybarites” who accumulate large quantities of books that they will not be able to read, among other things, for the desire to show off.
This kind of benign bibliomania is also a way to offer a positive self-image. The fact of having large walls full of shelves with books can produce admiration both for being a reliable bet as a form of decoration and for externalizing the curiosities and literary and intellectual interests of the person who owns them.
On the other hand, maintaining an extensive and careful collection of books is a demonstration of one’s own judgment and refined tastes as long as any type of literary works are not accumulated and a filter is maintained.
In addition, displaying very expensive or rare books, such as unique editions, defective copies or incunabula It is also a form of class differentiationso bibliomania can be based on the desire to legitimize a certain degree of authority over others.
Hoarding books uncontrollably
Although for a long time the image of the buyer has been that of a person who makes purely rational decisions taking into account the costs and benefits of purchasing something, this idea has long since entered into crisis.
Currently we know that processes based entirely on emotions often influence the purchase of a product, even if they are disguised as rationality. For example, something as simple as the color of a box or packaging can make a certain product sell more or less.
In the case of bibliomania, The motivation behind the accumulation of books also escapes conventional logic. That is why this phenomenon is considered a symptom that can appear in certain disorders and that often escapes the person’s control: first the acquisition and storage of the book occurs and then the “excuses” created to justify themselves appear. same what has been done.
Its causes
Regarding the causes of bibliomania, They depend on the type of mental disorder with which it is associated in each case.and even knowing this factor, it is not completely known what kind of mental mechanisms produce this symptom.
Regarding non-pathological bibliomania, since it is a very abstract concept, there can be an infinite number of reasons: from the belief that there will be time to read everything (in the case of people who are very curious about many topics or who greatly appreciate the habit of reading for leisure purposes) to the narcissistic interest in displaying intellectual goods, through the simple decorative desire.
