“How long am I going to keep living like this?” The Hikikomori.

Hikikomori:

(ひきこもり or 引きこもり, “pulling inward, being confined”)

Acute Social Withdrawal — Absolute confinement and withdrawal from the unreasonable society.

Additionally known as Modern-day hermits or loners.

Fear, anxiety and anger. This esoteric group of teenagers and middle-aged people who comprise more than half a million of the Japanese population lock themselves up away from the world, even their own family for over six months, to feel safe. The condition affects both men and women. They sleep all day and stay up at night. The term HIKIKOMORI applies to both the phenomenon and the affected.

Etymology:

Tamaki Saitō, a recognized Hikikomori expert coined the term and brought to light the concept of social withdrawal exhibited by some, in his 1998 book. Saitō accentuated that the hikikomori describes a state and not an illness and that these recluses are not involved in malefactor activities. According to Saitō, hikikomori is school-refusers or futōkō, who autonomously stop going to school and simultaneously wrestle with issues of career and academic pressures by parents.

“There’s still a lack of respect for individuals,” Saitō commented. “People who aren’t useful to society or their family are seen as having no value. When hikikomori hears the government’s rhetoric about promoting ‘the dynamic engagement of all citizens,’ they’re liable to take it to mean that their inability to be ‘dynamically engaged’ makes them worthless. This drives them into a mental corner.”

The Rise:

The extreme and unyielding detachment from society first surfaced around the 1900s amongst the Japanese youths. This period was called the economic “ice age” in Japan, which averted young people from achieving their goals.

First Generation Hikikomori

As of 2021, people aged 50 or the first-gen hikikomori have lived as a hikikomori for over 20 years. Their reintegration into society is what is known as “the 2030 Problem” when they are in their 60s and their parents begin to die. Since hikikomori usually only depend on their parents for basic amenities Dr. Tamaki has emphasized the essentiality of drawing up a lifetime financial plan for hikikomori children.

This pattern of demeanor was initially a Japanese problem, it is now prevalent in United States, United Kingdom, Oman, Spain, Italy, India, Sweden, South Korea, and France.

Soto-Komori

With the continual expectations of family and friends Hikikomori usually find rudimental interactions or basics tasks at school or anywhere else next to impossible, Soto-Komori is recluses who infrequently interact with people and manage some outside activities. Some may utilize the cyber world as a window on the world, but they often won’t interact with others.

Probable Reasons:

According to data, hikikomori emerges in adolescence and late adulthood. This sociocultural mental health phenomenon could be due to several reasons,

• Some psychiatrists suggest that hikikomori may be affected by autism spectrum disorders, mood disorders, social anxiety and agoraphobia.
• exposure to shame and academic failures; bully
• overprotective parents and their expectation
• financial burden
• not being able to trust
• lack of social skills
• when social expectations conflict with that of one’s own goals

The incrementing number who have opted to shut themselves away to escape the world become cognizant of their failure. These solitudinarians lose every last bit of self-esteem and confidence.

Treatment Programmes:

Educating parents and therapies have been suggested for the hikikomori but the efficacy is low. Support groups for talking and sharing rather than bottling up everything. Encouraging them with what they desire. Most families are embarrassed or ignorant of these conditions and keep these a secret and fail to get proper help.

Rental Sister:

An organization offering “sisters for rent” for the young hikikomori of Japan, to help them back on their feet out in the world. These sisters have no prior medical training but they are paid almost a hundred thousand Yen monthly for hourly visits every week. Their job is to convince the hikikomori to step out in the world. The sisters slide letters under the door initially, since there would be zero communication. In later stages, a recovering hikikomori would go out to eat with the sisters. However, the cases are rare. These sisters work hard to cheer them up. Building trust between a hikikomori and a sister may take up to 2 years.

Hikikomori in India

Japan is very different from India. However, some similar attributes contribute to an existing but not on view hikikomori culture.

• work overload and submit to health issues
• Dating culture being taboo in India, men or women are afraid, they seldom socialize and hide away in their homes craving intimacy after watching it on-screen
• Middle-class sufferings and parental expectations of scoring a 9 to 5 job
• Body shaming, homophobic society and what not;

One major problem that persists in India is that while in Japan or other Western countries living at your parents home is considered abnormal but in India, it is very much common. There is always this one child with strict parents who raise their kids like robots with only one aim- Doctor or Engineer- and the new UPSC, SSC trend. So students who fail to bag their parents’ desired jobs usually lock themselves up in their house, suffer from an existential crisis and sometimes end up committing suicide.

Film Recommendation — House Arrest, starring Ali Faizal

How should you perceive a Hikikomori?

The Hikikomori is slowly emerging into a global problem. Individuals or the NEETS are losing the power or desire to do what they want, dropping out of schools, quitting jobs or getting sacked. People should listen and help. Hikikomori is a group of normal people who are scared of people, school, society, their parents. They are incapable of fighting against the tragedy drawn by society’s rules. The outside world makes them uncomfortable.

It is an emotional plea from a hikikomori itself, this phenomenon is a delicate issue. We have no answer to our solitude. The people who go out, meet their friends, have jobs, we envy them. We reach a point where we stop thinking and online games and anime and comics become the only tranquillizer. We reject the world to protect ourselves from embarrassment. We are filled with the uneasiness of always having to prove to others. We do not know who to turn to, or what to say. We are overwhelmed with the uneasiness. I instantly compare myself with others and feel inferior. I am always fighting the demons inside me. It feels like a lost battle.

Another recommendation — Welcome to the NHK”, written by a real hikikomori.