How Is Hikikomori Different From Agoraphobia?

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Hikikomori, literally translated as “pulling within,” is a social, cultural and mental problem that has been affecting Japan since approximately 20 years ago. Hikikomori was described in a 2010 psychological study by Teo et al. as a person exhibiting the following five traits: spending most of the day inside, a purposeful avoidance of social interaction, social withdrawal symptoms from said avoidance, an active period of more than six months, and finally no pre-existing medical reasons that would explain why the person is unable to freely move outside and communicate. The thesis for this paper is that Japanese society feels that there’s nothing they can do to help or stop the increase of hikikomori. While support has become more widespread there is still a reluctance towards solving the cause of the problem itself which would be societal stress. To clear two things up, hikikomori is different from agoraphobia in that agoraphobia is a fear of the …show more content…

After being encouraged by “Train Man” he’s able to put on a uniform, leave not only his room but his house and venture outside where he meets a girl that asks to sit next to him on the bus, even though you can see an empty seat in that shot. Basically this is too much of an unrealistic thing. This is of course because this is a “feel good movie” but it still poses a problem.The people of Japan are undoubtedly worried about this ever increasing number of people that start becoming horribly reclusive. By seeing Train Man get the girl and clean himself up it makes real life otaku or those on the less popular side feel good because they are watching someone in similar circumstances succeed and do what they may want to do. Similarly bunny man’s recovery is to create this feel good feeling for all of the people worried over hikikomori. “He was able to recover so easily which must mean that everyone that’s a hikikomori can do the same,

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