brought up as being the core criteria,
it is relatively easy to measure how
often a person leaves their home. And
this is one of the reasons I’ve included
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This is something that scientists across
countries and in different cultures
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consistently.ARE THERE ANY COMMON FEATURES
AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE AFFECTED
BY HIKIKOMORI?
I think each person is an individual,
and of course, there’s lots of variation
even within a culture. That said, when
I listened to stories of hikikomori, there
are some common threads.
Usually, hikikomori develops over
an extended period of time. It isn’t like
a switch that just suddenly turns on.
People with hikikomori often have had
major stressors early in their life, such
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in school. They may even have faced
problems with attending school in the
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build up over time, turning into this
prolonged social withdrawal that
we see.
It’s likely they may also have
challenges within their family
relationships. So, let’s say that the
16-year-old son is hikikomori. He may
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in how they communicate and relate to
their son. So, things like that.
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with school or other early traumatic
experiences – it all builds up over time
until it reaches this syndrome of social
withdrawal.HOW WOULD YOU RESEARCH
SOMETHING LIKE THIS? IT SEEMS
THAT THERE MAY BE DIFFICULTIES
IN EVEN CONTACTING THESE
PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE...
You’re hitting the nail on the
head there. This has been one
of the biggest impediments to
moving research forward regarding
hikikomori. But there are also other
impediments to moving research
forward – funding, for example. But
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out and getting individuals with
hikikomori to participate in research
has been a major barrier.
There’s a couple of thoughts that
we have had in terms of trying to
get around this. One of my interests
is to do more research with family
members because they are usually
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I regularly get emails out of the
blue, but they’re almost always from
a brother, from a mother, from an
aunt. Someone who says: “It is really
tearing our family apart. Can you
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point of contact, and they could be
really helpful with regards to early
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delay in terms of how long it actually
takes for us to identify a case,
and if family members are more
engaged and can identify signs of
hikikomori early on, then maybe we
can intervene earlier and do better at
treating the condition.DR ALAN TEO
Alan is an associate professor of psychiatry at
Oregon Health and Science University.
Interviewed by BBC Science Focus
commissioning editor Jason Goodyer.DISCOVERIES