Mari McGrath writes for Quarterlives magazine about how being a Harry Potter addict brought her through a very rough time. We can all relate. As Bob Dylan once sang, "the times they are a-changin'" (let's hope) and Harry and his mates knew that way before anyone else and did something about it, which can spur on action by those deeply intuned to Harry's plight.

Ahem. At any rate, McGrath cites an article printed in the Journal of General Psychology by psychology professor Dr. Jeffrey Rudski, who conducted a study with two of his undergrad students at the Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In the study they discover, "characteristics of addiction in at least 10 percent of the 4,000 Potter fans they polled online." You can read more about the study on MTV's site, where they surmise that being you're more apt to become the next Picasso (ok, we're exaggerating) if you have a Harry Potter addiction than you would if you loved Heroin.

"An addiction is an addiction is an addiction," Rudski said. "An addiction to a drug is no different than an addiction to Harry Potter or the Internet or pornography. Although it's not always a bad thing. There's a community that you get with Harry Potter that you don't get with heroin."

The reason, MTV states, that Rudski chose Harry Potter to study addiction traits is because of his 15-year old daughter who, as a Harry Potter fan, felt the burning need to learn guitar so she could start her own Wizard Rock band along with studying Latin to better understand J.K. Rowling's use of it in her stories and began reading Stephen King and John Irving books simply because the two authors spoke with Rowling at a New York Radio City event two years ago. Well, at least she's being creative with it... but there are other side effects that comes with this HP addiction:

"For 'Harry Potter and the End of the Line: Parallels with Addiction,' they used craving scales that had been established for smoking, substituting 'Deathly Hallows' for cigarettes. They surveyed fans before the book's release, upon completion of the book and six months afterwards as a follow-up. The 10 percent of respondents that Rudski considers addicted described spending more than four hours a day on Potter-related activities, experiencing interference with appetite and sleep patterns, engaging in less physical activity, having a lower sense of well-being and being more irritable after completing the series."

(Read about the study here).

At any rate, we can report that McGrath is just peachy now and got a NEWT, er A in her Managerial Finance class. But we can certainly relate to the Potter addiction. Com'on - say it with me, "My name is _______ and I am a Harry Potter Addict!"

I wonder what the 12 steps would be to getting over this addiction... anyone wanna take a gander at that? (Image of our addictive trio above is the first promotional still from the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Say it with me Potter addicts - "WE CAN'T WAIT!!"

Continue on (click "Confessions of a Harry Potter Addict" under the bookmarking tools below) to view links of people who, because of their Harry Potter addiction (and we won't post all the links to the gazillions of fan-based Websites and fanfiction sites there are, you can find those on your own) have gone off to do great things.

These Harry Potter Addicts are Making a Difference

The Harry Potter Alliance - is dedicated to using the examples of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore to spread love and fight the Dark Arts in the real world. Please join us in creating the real Dumbledore's Army.

WizardRock.org -  is the premier information site for the genre of music known as wizard rock, as well as a place for fans and musicians alike to gather. We would like to say that we are the first Wizard Rock site but sadly our friend Tess from RealWizardRock.com beat us to it, so we'll settle for the premier Wizard Rock site.

RealWizardRock.com -  This is the site that brings you a constantly updated collection of lyrics from a huge variety of Wizard Rock bands, including Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys.

Waldemart Watch -  We in WaldeMart Watch believe that the Dark Magic practiced by Lord WaldeMart and his company Wal-Mart is inconsisten with the values in Harry Potter. Together as fans of the Harry Potter books and movies we have the power to go beyond Lord WaldeMart's "gifts for spreading discord and enmity... by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust" (Goble of Fire 723) to all who have suffered at his hands.

Harvey Putter -  Harvey Putter and the Ridiculous Premise is a feature-length (approx. 100 minutes) movie spoof currently in pre-production. The movie is a follow up project to the filmmaking team's very successful film The Dork of the Rings which has screened internationally at film festivals and conventions. The script written by director Tim Richardson, Michael Kouroubetes and James Pickens.

Wizard Rockumentary -  We are two twenty-two-year-old girls who have traveled across the country of our own device, meeting incredible strangers along the way who we now count as friends. We're taking a chance with our time, money, and energies for something that we love and we are having a freaking blast! Take a risk and follow your heart and enjoy every moment of it. Wizard Rock on!

There are so many more... leave your links for those you find in the comments below!

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Readers have left 2 comments.

 1. Untitled
Mari McGrath, Unregistered

I am proud to state that I also avoided a 'T' in my International Business class and will be continuing on to Muggle Studies this semester! Thanks for the reference.

 Posted 2008-04-27 21:37:54

 2. Hi
Hi, Unregistered

Hi

 Posted 2008-06-30 20:03:30

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