BBC Focus 02.2020

DISCOVERIES

WHAT IS YOUR NEW THINKING ON
THE DEFINITION OF HIKIKOMORI?
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of hikikomori based on new
information, new knowledge,
new science and the combined
experience that I’ve had interacting
with individuals who have it, as
well as my Japanese collaborator.
In a nutshell, the core feature of

Hikikomori, which means ‘pulling

inwards’ in Japanese, is a condition

in which those aected withdraw

from society, oen not leaving their

homes for days on end. It was first

identified in Japan in the late 1990s

but current research suggests that the

condition is much more widespread

than previously thought. Alan Teo, an

associate professor at Oregon Health

and Science University, has been

researching hikikomori for more than a

decade. He says it’s time the condition

was given a clearer definition to enable

more eective treatments worldwide.

New definition

for hikikomori

may help to

identify and

treat extreme

social isolation

around the globe

D r A l a n Te o associate professor of psychiatry

“We’re

proposing

the threshold

for social

withdrawal to

be only leaving

your home

three or less

days in a week”

Horizons

ALAMY

Hikikomori is a condition where

individuals isolate themselves,

but family members can help,

a new study finds

hikikomori is the sense of physical

isolation in the home, whatever that

home is. I think a misunderstanding

that has happened among the lay

population is to think of hikikomori

only as being the most extreme. I’ve

talked with hikikomori who haven’t

left their room, or who haven’t been

out of their home for many, many

years. But, they are much more

extreme examples.

One of the messages here is that the

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we’re saying that if you only leave

the home three days a week or less,

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threshold for social withdrawal. In

other words, the threshold to meet the

FGPKVKQPQHhikikomori.

OBVIOUSLY THE NAME’S JAPANESE,

AND THAT’S WHERE HIKIKOMORI

WAS FIRST IDENTIFIED, BUT THERE’S

MORE RESEARCH COMING OUT THAT

IT’S NOT A UNIQUELY JAPANESE

PROBLEM, IS IT?

No, it isn’t [uniquely Japanese]. That’s

one of the reasons why I think it’s

important that we’ve put out this new

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reports of hikikomori from all over the

world. In addition, there’s more and

more energy and excitement among

scientists and researchers surrounding

the subject. I’m getting contacted on a

regular basis by researchers in France,

Tu r k e y a n d m a n y o t h e r c o u n t r i e s ,

who would like to study it.

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operationalise. What that means is

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we can eaily measure. So, using that

example of physical isolation that I