Hikikomori

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"Hikikomori" is a social condition prevalent in Japan (some say only in Japan.), where young people, unable to cope with social and academic pressures, shut themselves in their rooms for months, even years on end.
Yasuo Yamamoto hasn't emerged in almost a year. Yet even as his condition worsens, someone still cares for him...



Hikikomori translates loosely as one who shuts himself away and becomes socially withdrawn. These men - 80% of hikikomori are males - cannot be diagnosed as schizophrenics or mental defectives. They are not depressives or psychotics; nor are they classic agraphobics, who fear public spaces but welcome friends into their homes. When psychiatrist evaluate these hikikomori using the diagnostic and statistical manual, or DSM IV, the standard guide used in the west to diagnose mental disorders, their symptoms cannot be attributed to any known psychiatric ailment. Instead, Japanese psychiatists say that hikikomori is a social disorder, only recently observed, that cannot be found within other cultures. (Shutting out the sun Michael Zielenziger) 

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