Hikikomori
[12] The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare defines hikikomori as a condition in which the affected individuals refuse to leave their parents' house, do not work or go to school, and isolate themselves from society and family in a single room for a period exceeding six months.
In interviews with current or recovering hikikomori, media reports and documentaries have captured the strong levels of psychological distress and fear felt by these individuals.
[21] Tamaki Saitō, who first coined the phrase, originally estimated that there may be over one million hikikomori in Japan, although this was not based on national survey data.
Nonetheless, considering that hikikomori adolescents are hidden away and their parents are often reluctant to talk about the problem, it is extremely difficult to gauge the number accurately.
In 2019, another survey showed that there are roughly 613,000 people aged 40 to 64 that fall into the category of "adult hikikomori", which Japan's welfare minister Takumi Nemoto referred to as a "new social issue".
[39] According to Michael Zielenziger's book Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation, the syndrome is more closely related to posttraumatic stress disorder.
The author claimed that the hikikomori interviewed for the book had discovered independent thinking and a sense of self that the current Japanese environment could not accommodate.
In The Anatomy of Dependence, Takeo Doi identifies the symptoms of hikikomori, and explains its prevalence as originating in the Japanese psychological construct of amae (in Freudian terms, "passive object love", typically of the kind between mother and infant).
Young adults may feel overwhelmed by modern Japanese society, or be unable to fulfill their expected social roles as they have not yet formulated a sense of personal honne and tatemae – one's "true self" and one's "public façade" – necessary to cope with the paradoxes of adulthood.
Indications are that advanced industrialized societies such as modern Japan fail to provide sufficient meaningful transformation rituals for promoting certain susceptible types of youth into mature roles.
[47][48] Previous studies of hikikomori in South Korea and Spain found that some of them showed signs of Internet addiction, though researchers do not consider this to be the main issue.
The term "Hodo-Hodo zoku" (the "So-So tribe") applies to younger workers who refuse promotion to minimize stress and maximize free time.
[55] After graduating from high school or university, Japanese youth also have to face a very difficult job market in Japan, often finding only part-time employment and ending up as freeters with little income, unable to start a family.
[56] Another source of pressure is from their co-students, who may harass and bully (ijime) some students for a variety of reasons, including physical appearance, wealth, or educational or athletic performance.
Refusal to participate in society makes hikikomori an extreme subset of a much larger group of younger Japanese that includes freeters.
The goal is to ultimately help hikikomori reintegrate into society by personal choice, thereby realizing an economic contribution and reducing the financial burden on parents or guardians.
He also recommended that parents should not fear embarrassment or be concerned about appearances as they look at the options, including disability pensions or other forms of public assistance for their children.
[63] CRAFT specifically trains family members to express positive and functional communication, whereas MHFA provides skills to support hikikomori with depression/suicidal like behaviour.
[68] Based on prior outbreaks (e.g. SARS, MERS), studies have shown that due to increased loneliness, quarantined individuals have heightened stress-related mental disturbances.
[62] Considering that political, social, or economical challenges already bring people to express hikikomori-like behavior, researchers theorize that since all the aforementioned factors are by-products of a pandemic, a hikikomori phenomenon may become more common in a post-pandemic world.
[62][66] In fact, people who do experience mental disturbances in Japan generally view seeking the help of a psychiatrist as shameful or a reason for them to be socially shunned.
