India Uncut

Upon finishing J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,"10-year-old Ben C. listlessly moped around his house for three days. He picked at his food and was short-tempered with his sister. His alarmed mother took his temperature, inquired about problems with friends and probed into the nature of his malady. All Ben could say was that he was feeling a "deep sense of loss." Across town, Francis M. drifted through two days in a daze, taking little interest in her usual activities.

Doctors at St. Mungos Hospital are asserting that Ben and Francis are two of the earliest cases of "Post Potter Syndrome." All indications are that PPS will become a full-blown epidemic by late August. [...]

Dr. Glenn M. Bookjoy, a researcher of the history of literary maladies, said that the symptoms of PPS are severe but they typically only last for three to seven days. "Although PPS is a modern disease, it falls under the broad category of Acute Post Literary Trauma (APLT) or the less severe Post Literary Malaise (PLM). Historically, children have suffered similar effects after reading classics such as J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit,' and 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy; C.S. Lewis' 'The Chronicles of Narnia'; and the 'Little House' series by Laura Ingalls Wilder," commented Dr. Bookjoy.