Last Updated on March 12, 2023 by Mike Robinson

Bibliophobia is an exaggerated and irrational fear of books or reading specific texts. This kind of phobia is caused by negative experiences with books or reading. It can be generated by a lack of understanding of the text or by neurological disorders developed in early childhood. It could also result from mockery or some type of physical or psychological abuse for not reading correctly.

This phobia produces diverse symptoms, such as excessive sweating, anxiety, and tremors, that cause discomfort and significant difficulties in the environments where the individual develops.

Causes of Bibliophobia

Historical Causes

The term bibliophobia is known since antiquity. It is found in texts from the 18th century, where it was believed that the irrational fear of books came from multiple factors, such as restrictions, lack of reading, superstitions, prudery, jealous apprentices, pedantry, and political fears.

It was also believed that it was caused by the absence of experiences with books during childhood, although they had discovered that there were cases of children who had been exposed to books and similarly presented bibliophobia. That is, these experiences did not immunize this phobia.

In addition, it was believed that this resounding rejection was caused by the lack of freedom to choose a book, since previously they were not allowed to read all kinds of texts. There were banned books because their content went against the beliefs of a society or culture. In the same way, there were obligatory readings that allowed indoctrination.

According to Jackson (1932), this phobia is due to superstitions. People were sacrificed for their knowledge, like Galileo during the Inquisition. Likewise, it was also fostered by the pedantry of certain renowned writers, who preferred to find the necessary means to prevent the emergence of new knowledge that denied the one that they had proposed.

In addition, this was also caused by political fears; people wanted to experiment and observe how libraries were burned, hinting that if you decided to opt for those readings, your life could be in danger.

At present, where the restrictions are much lower, scientific advances have been able to demonstrate other causes of bibliophobia.

Traumatic Experiences 

Bibliophobia is associated with traumatic childhood experiences, such as abuse or bad experiences with a literary genre.

These experiences may be related to some physical or psychological abuse (bullying) that is exerted on the child because of his difficulty in reading.

Negative experiences may be associated with a literary genre or subgenre. For example, a book of suspense that produces anxiety and fear in the child might generate irrational terror or generalized imminent rejection.

Literacy Level

Undercover illiteracy can also be a trigger for bibliophobia. Certain people who do not know how to read properly prefer not to read. This saves them embarrassment or rejection.

Individual Interest in Reading

It will also be determined by the individual’s interests and comprehension of the text. If we force the person to read books that are beyond their level of knowledge or that they have no interest in, they, like others of their gender, are likely to develop an aversion to these texts.

One of the causes of a higher incidence could be an erroneous diagnosis or an unrealized diagnosis.

That is to say, in some children, bibliophobia can be present due to the difficulty they have reading. This could be the product of a neurodevelopmental disorder such as dyslexia. Attention deficit disorder (ADHD) with or without hyperactivity, a communication disability, or an intellectual disability could also be causes.

In addition, we can find reading difficulties in children with language development disorders:

• Specific learning disorder: with difficulty in reading This is described as dyslexia, a neurobiological and epigenetic disorder that affects the learning of written reading as well as the efficient recognition of words expressed through a visual pattern. 
• Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity: marked inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that interfere in their development and daily functioning.
• Language disorder: difficulties in acquiring and using language to express and understand it. The limitations include school or work performance, effective communication, socialization, and the combination thereof.
• Phonological disorder: difficulty that interferes with speech production and intelligibility.
• Influence disorder of onset in childhood: alterations in the flow, rhythm, and temporal organization of speech.
• Intellectual disability: limitations of intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior Limiting the activities of daily life It can be mild, moderate, severe, or deep.

Related Disorders

The phobia can be related to disorders such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder.

• Epilepsy: According to the International League Against Epilepsy (2014), it is a brain disease defined by a pathological tendency and characterized by recurrent seizures.
• Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative mental illness that begins in elderly adults (over 50). Its symptomatology corresponds to the loss of memory, confusion, difficulty in thinking, and changes in language, behavior, and personality.
• Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders: this spectrum is marked by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, very disorganized or anomalous motor behavior, and less prominent negative symptoms (decreased emotional expression and decreased activities on their own initiative).
• Bipolar disorder : People who experience episodes or manic attacks and major depressive episodes, or major depressive episodes and hypomanic crises.

Symptoms of Bibliophobia

People with bibliophobia feel an irrational fear or hatred of books or reading, as mentioned above. The most common symptoms are:

• Excessive sweating
• Feeling scary
• The sensation of panic is an irrational and excessive fear that can cause flight, paralyze the subject, or lead to a panic attack.
• sensation of terror
• Anxiety is a feeling of constant worry that produces recurrent thoughts, fear, panic, excessive sweating, and tremors in the extremities.
• Accelerated heart rate: accelerated palpitations are called tachycardia.
• Hyperventilation: difficulty breathing, which is observed as short and rapid breathing.
• Tremors throughout the body or extremities
• fuzzy or confused thoughts about the situation or the object that produces them.

Treatment Options

There are several treatments available for bibliophobia. We have medication as a primary treatment when a person is experiencing persistent and repetitive discomfort.

A psychiatrist may prescribe it to alleviate symptoms. It should be noted that the symptoms disappear for a period of time while taking medication. However, the disorder is not cured.

Another treatment option is psychotherapy, which corresponds to some currents. The most common treatments for phobias are behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and neurolinguistic programming (NLP). There are also alternative therapies, such as hypnotherapy and energy psychology.

Behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy

Behavioral therapists treat phobias with classical conditioning techniques.

The cognitive-behavioral therapy work is done “here and now”, directly with the symptomatology that the person is presenting. In phobias, relaxation, cognitive restructuring, and gradual exposure are commonly used .

In the same way, within the cognitive-behavioral field, systematic desensitization is applied with greater success, where the therapist gradually exposes the person to his phobia. First, it takes place in a totally controlled environment, such as the office, and then homework is sent home.

NLP

NLP is based on mental processes and on the use and value we give to words; that is, the way we express ourselves reflects the internal representations of our problems. In this current work, beliefs, behaviors, and thoughts are reprogrammed, making the person aware of the words, gestures, and facial expressions that cause and trigger the irrational fear.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is an alternative treatment based on relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention on one or several topics that you wish to treat to make a modification of thoughts, of emotions evoked by a particular situation or object, or to find the psychological cause of the disorder.

You must reach a very high state of consciousness, which is called a trance. The therapist will guide the person in focusing their painful thoughts, emotions, and memories to explore them and find the trigger for the symptoms.

Hypnosis is often used to recover thoughts and memories that are in the unconscious. However, there may be a danger of creating false memories without any therapeutic intent, so it is vitally important not to carry it out in psychotic or dissociative disorders. If it can be carried out in sleep disorders, eating disorders, onicofagia , anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, phobias, substance-related disorders (tobacco, alcohol, etc.), and in pathological gambling

Energy psychology

Energy psychology is a therapy that is based on the mind-body connection. Therefore, it focuses on the relationship between thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and the bio energetic system of the individual. 

Also read: Phallogobia: symptoms, causes, and treatments.

This is the integration of the theories of meridian acupuncture, neuroscience, quantum mechanics and physics, biology, medicine, chiropractic, and psychology. It has been used in the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, phobias, pain, stress, etc.