8 Indian Teens Were Allegedly Hospitalized... Due To Their Obsession With BTS

Getting too deep into any fandom can be detrimental to one’s health, and it seems that fans of BTS aren’t exempt from such a thing after eight Indian teens were recently hospitalized for their obsession with the K-Pop group.

According to an article by Ahmedabad Mirror, the eight teenagers, all living in the Ahmedabad area, were brought to the psychiatry department of Shalby Hospital within a ten-day period.

In the days leading up to their hospitalizations, they had apparently been listening to K-Pop for 8 to 10 hours a day, and in one more extreme case, “Got so addicted that she would stay cooped up in her room, refusing to eat or sleep properly and spend her entire time listening to BTS music either on her phone or laptop.”

Parents became concerned when this obsession led to the girl stealing money in order to buy expensive clothing and accessories similar to what BTS wears. She even allegedly planned to run away to South Korea with plans of marrying one of the members.

In another severe example, one girl reportedly attempted to commit suicide by taking pills after her parents took her to a counselor to “get rid of her BTS obsession”.

Dr. Kalrav Mistry, the head of the Department of Psychiatry clinic at Shalby Hospital, said that cases of “BTS obsession” requiring psychiatric treatment have been increasing in the last three to four months.

In the past 10 days, we received eight cases, and this is a red flag that should not be ignored. Parents need to keep a watch on their children. Most patients are in the 13 to 22 age group… The youngsters are blindly following BTS, adopting their rockstar lifestyle, expensive clothes and all. And to meet these expenses they are resorting to stealing and drugs. By the time parents realize something is wrong, the obsession has reached a different level

— Dr. Kalrav Mistry

There’s definitely a safe and healthy way to show your love and support for BTS or any other K-Pop group, but in the case of these teens, peer pressure to constantly keep up with BTS and mimic their lifestyle had some fans take it too far.