Children and adults across the country are desperate for their next fix. But don’t worry, this craving isn’t for anything illicit. It’s for Harry Potter. And the good news is, the wait is finally over. The fifth book in the series — Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — is slated for release on June 21. Its first printing of 6.8 million copies is an all-time United States publishing record — and it’s not just books. Movies based on the popular series continue to set box-office records. But what is it about this young wizard that keeps us so fascinated? When the series begins, 11-year-old Harry Potter lives in a closet with his horrible aunt and uncle and their even-more horrible son. But then a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: It invites Harry to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “Harry persists until hope arrives and this gives many readers faith that they too may be rescued,” says Laurie-Pahel Short, M.D., a psychoanalyst from Raleigh, N.C. She discussed her theories about the Harry Potter phenomenon at a recent New York City meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. “We have all experienced being humiliated, embarrassed or traumatized in childhood and to see a kid who has experienced this and emerged with a sense of humor and sturdiness is extremely encouraging,” she says. “Children are all going to have magical fantasies. It’s a problem solving method — just like adults engage in brainstorming. Magical fantasies help you cope when you can’t change a situation.” And, in short, that is why children — and adults — love Harry Potter. So don’t worry if your kid is chomping at the bit for the next installment. “It’s absolutely healthy,” agrees psychoanalyst Leon Hoffman, M.D., co-director of the Pacella Parent Child Center in Manhattan. “The story of Harry Potter is a fantastic story and what really gives it a lot of ‘oomph’ is the idea of a magical being who is raised by humans.” “It plays into a classic childhood fantasy,” he says. “When a child gets to be between the ages of 4 and 7, they imagine that ‘my parents aren’t my real parents. My real parents are a king and queen out there and soon they will claim me’. “Developing your fantasies is part of life, and something like Harry Potter allows you to identify with a fantasy — that’s why so many kids are involved in various fantasy games on a computer,” he explains. “Children are prone to magical thinking,” adds Sebastian Zimmerman, M.D., a child and adolescent psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “This is the blurring between wish and reality and cause and effect. It is the belief that just by imagining stuff, it will happen. “Even adults think in magical ways, and it can be a source of creativity if not occurring in maladaptive ways,” he says. “This may explain why the book is equally popular with children and adults.” Kerry Sulkowicz, M.D., a New York City-based psychoanalyst and father, has read all four books aloud to his older daughter and is about to start the cycle again with his youngest daughter. “I think the books are absolutely wonderful,” says Dr. Sulkowicz, also the chair of the committee on public information of the American Psychoanalytic Association. “In the literary press, [the Harry Potter books] get some criticism but when you see the reaction of kids to the story it’s hard to argue against them,” he says. “Through the adventures of Harry and friends, the author captures things about early adolescence that feel like real truths.” For example, “There is something very wise about how these kids handle themselves, and what makes it real is that don’t always handle themselves perfectly, but they learn from their mistakes,” Dr. Sulkowicz says. “A lot of people identify in fantasy with Harry because of his extraordinary success and because he comes from profound trauma. This is a boy whose parents were killed, and while it is an extreme trauma, the tales compensate in magical ways.”
