![]() Additionally, the government estimates that 1.55 million people are on the verge of becoming hikikomori. There is concern about their reintegration into society in what is known as "the 2030 Problem", when they will be in their 60s and their parents begin to die. This group is generally referred to as the "first-generation hikikomori". These included the hikikomori who were at that time in their 40s and had spent 20 years in isolation. (Population of Japan in 2014 was 127.3 million.) Still, the numbers vary widely among experts. Affected people may appear unhappy, lose their friends, become insecure and shy, and talk less.Īccording to Japanese government figures released in 2010, there were at that time 700,000 individuals living as hikikomori within Japan, with an average age of 31. The withdrawal from society usually starts gradually. While hikikomori favor indoor activities, some venture outdoors occasionally. In interviews with current or recovering hikikomori, media reports and documentaries have captured the strong levels of psychological distress and angst felt by these individuals. In some more severe cases, they isolate themselves in their bedrooms for months or years at a time. While many people feel the pressures of the outside world, Hikikomori react by complete social withdrawal. Exclusion of those who maintain personal relationships (e.g., friendships).Exclusion of schizophrenia, intellectual disability, and bipolar disorder.Persistence of withdrawal for more than 6 months. ![]() No interest in going to school or working.Hikikomori has been defined by a Japanese expert group as having the following characteristics: Often hikikomori start out as school refusers, or futōkō ( 不登校) in Japanese (an older term is tōkōkyohi ( 登校拒否)). While the degree of the phenomenon varies on an individual basis, in the most extreme cases, some people remain in isolation for years or even decades. The psychiatrist Alan Teo first characterized hikikomori in Japan as modern-day hermits, while the literary and communication scholar Flavio Rizzo similarly described hikikomori as "post-modern hermits" whose solitude stems from ancestral desires for withdrawal. ![]()
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