Tadaaki Furuhashi, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Nagoya, University of Glasgow, UK It was found in a joint research by Dr. Maki Looksby of the Institute of Science and Psychology and Professor Hamish McLeod of the Institute of Health and Welfare, University of Glasgow.
According to Nagoya University, hikikomori has been recognized in Japan since the 1990s, and the existence of 2019 million people was confirmed nationwide in 110.Recently, its existence has been recognized in European countries such as France and Asian countries, and it is becoming a social problem.
Associate Professor Furuhashi and his colleagues have been conducting joint research on withdrawal in the UK since 2016, but from March 2020, lockdown of cities to prevent the spread of the new corona infection has been promoted in European countries, and even after the release, it will continue to society. It is believed that the number of withdrawal reserves is increasing due to the fact that there are cases where they cannot return.
The withdrawal reserve army created by lockdown is not much different from the conventional withdrawal in that it passively observes the world through social media and online games.For this reason, he points out that hikikomori may increase rapidly in each country in the future, and it can be expected that hikikomori and its family support will be needed.
Paper information:[World Psychiatry] Hikikomori: a hidden mental health need following the COVID-19 pandemic
