Bibliophobia (fear of books): causes, symptoms and treatment

Fear of reading can have several cultural causes. We analyze them.

Phobias are a fairly common type of anxiety disorder.. Humans can be afraid of many stimuli and this can be normal; however, phobic disorders are characterized by the fact that the fear they provoke is irrational.

Practically everyone would be afraid to be alone with a lion, but not with a clown. There are individuals who feel terror when they are near these funny characters, which is known as coulrophobia.

Phobias create discomfort and anxiety in the sufferer, who tends to avoid the phobic stimulus that produces this unpleasant sensation. There are different types of phobias, one of them is bibliophobia or fear of books and reading.. In this article we will talk about this phobia and explain its causes, symptoms and consequences.

What is bibliophobia

Bibliophobia is a phobia and, therefore, an irrational fear of a phobic stimulus, in this case books and reading.. It usually starts at an early age, for example, at school when children may have some unpleasant experience with reading. Imagine a child who has difficulty reading and has to read a text aloud because the teacher asks him to do so.

In front of the class, the child begins to read, but it is very slow and the words get stuck as a result of nerves. The child gets more and more nervous, and the laughter of his classmates makes him feel so bad that this experience is not forgotten. As the years go by, he continues to remember this situation every time he has to read a text. This unpleasant experience marks him, and he feels a great discomfort when he sees a book or has to read it. In fact, he avoids holding books in his hands at all costs because they cause him great anxiety.

Causes

As you can see, one of the origins of this phobia can be a traumatic experience, and as in the previous example, it usually begins at an early age. The learning of this irrational fear can occur by a type of associative learning called classical conditioning, and the reasons for these unpleasant experiences can be the lack of understanding of the text and low self-esteem, different learning disorders or bullying and teasing for not reading correctly.

One of the most important characteristics of this type of learning is that it involves reflex or automatic responses, not voluntary behaviors.not voluntary behaviors. Classical conditioning is the connection between a new stimulus and an already existing reflex, therefore, it is a type of learning according to which an originally neutral stimulus, which does not provoke a response, ends up provoking an associative connection of this stimulus with the stimulus that normally provokes this response.

Characteristics of classical conditioning

One of the great theorists of classical conditioning was Ivan Pavlov, who devoted part of his life to its study, and is famous for his experiments with dogs.

Ivan Pavlov was not a psychologist but a physiologist who sought to investigate the salivation process of dogs. His experiment consisted of measuring the saliva of dogs when he presented them with food. Now, this intelligent character noticed that, after showing them the food repeatedly, the animals salivated even when the food was not present, simply in the presence of Pavlov, because the dogs knew that when he appeared at the door they were going to receive the food. This was because the dogs had learned that Pavlov's presence was equal to the presence of food.

Undoubtedly, Pavlov was important for providing knowledge and data on this phenomenon, but the first scientist to investigate conditioning with humans was John Watson. He is known for one of the most famous experiments in history and at the same time controversial, but that served to understand what happens in our body when we have a phobia. In the following video you can find an explanation of Watson's experiment.

Other causes of fear of books

The learning of phobias by classical conditioning refers to the fact that the environment plays a determining role for a person to be phobic. However, other theorists have affirmed throughout history that this disorder could have a genetic origin, that is to say, that some people could be more likely to suffer from this pathology thanks to heredity.

In addition, there is another theory called Seligman's "preparedness theory", which states that the fear response is key to human survival, as it activates the fight-flight response in dangerous situations. Therefore, we are biologically programmed to fear certain stimuli more easily. These types of associations are called primitive and non-cognitive, and are not easily modified by logical arguments.

Symptoms of this phobic disorder

Although there are different types of phobias, they all share the same symptoms, the only thing that varies is the phobic stimulus that causes them. Phobias are characterized by the discomfort and anxiety they generate and by the avoidance behaviors they provoke.

When a person feels an irrational fear of books or reading, tends to avoid those situations in which he/she may be in contact with this stimulus that causes an unpleasant sensation..

In summary, the symptomatology of phobia is:

• Extreme anxiety and fear before the presence or imagination of the phobic stimulus.
• Accelerated heartbeat.
• Tremors.
• Avoidance behaviors.
• Thoughts that the person is going to run out of air.
• Thoughts of great discomfort.
• Hyperventilation.
• Lightheadedness, nausea, dizziness and headaches.
• Hypersweating.
• Chest Pain or tightness.

Treatment and therapy

Like the vast majority of phobias, the treatment that has the greatest scientific support is cognitive behavioral therapy, which consists of correcting and modifying those thoughts or behaviors that cause discomfort in the patient.which consists of correcting and modifying those thoughts or behaviors that provoke discomfort in the patient. Several techniques are used, among them, relaxation techniques or exposure techniques.

The latter is the treatment par excellence, and more specifically the expository technique of systematic desensitization, which consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus while learning effective coping tools.

However, other types of psychological therapy have also been shown to be effective in different studies, for example, Mindfulness or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

In severe cases, drug treatment can also work, as long as it is not the only therapeutic option and is combined with psychotherapy.