International experience of hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal) and its relevance to psychiatric research

International experience of hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal) and its relevance to psychiatric research

When prolonged social withdrawal was first described in Japan as ‘hikikomori’, many studies examining its etiology suggested it to be related to factors unique to Japan and thus a culture-bound syndrome. However, existing research has suffered from a lack of standardised definitions, impeding compar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BJPsych international Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 34 - 37
Main Authors: Tan, Marcus P. J., Lee, William, Kato, Takahiro A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-05-2021
Subjects:
Comorbidity
Culture
Etiology
Mental disorders
Psychiatric services
Psychopathology
Psychosis
Social isolation
Social research
Society
Special Paper
United States > US
Japan
social functioning
transcultural psychiatry
Aetiology
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:When prolonged social withdrawal was first described in Japan as ‘hikikomori’, many studies examining its etiology suggested it to be related to factors unique to Japan and thus a culture-bound syndrome. However, existing research has suffered from a lack of standardised definitions, impeding comparability between studies. We summarise existing research and discuss its relevance to psychiatric practice today.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
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ObjectType-Review-1
There is a podcast available for this article at: https://soundcloud.com/bjpsych/bji-2020-20
ISSN:2056-4740
2058-6264
DOI:10.1192/bji.2020.20