Hikikomori Teens: My World Is My Room

Hikikomori teenagers spend most of their time with their internet friends or lying in their beds doing nothing. They lock themselves inside their room to get away from the pressures and problems of the world around them. They generally do not allow their parents to enter their den and evade communication with them.

Lightly anyone would say that they have behaviors like everyone else, because adolescence of this time is characterized by being a rebellious stage in which technology and friends play a very important role. However, Hikikomori teenagers are far from being like the rest of the youth. The aforementioned characteristics and many others, in them, become chronic to the point of turning them into sullen people who avoid physical contact with any human.

The world of Hikikomori teens

The world of Hikikomori teenagers is limited to the size of her room.

• They do not allow anyone to enter except to clean from time to time.
• Some are lovers of disorder.
• The windows always remain closed. That makes them live almost in twilight both day and night.

His confinement becomes eternal and constant:

• They never go out, except when the lavatory is outside their room.
• Weeks, months, and even years can go by without setting foot outside your bedroom.

His behavior becomes unhealthy:

• They eat poorly. They usually eat very little and at odd hours when their parents leave their food in front of their doors.

• They don’t usually talk much.
• They are fearful of the world around them and relationships with other human beings.
• They feel more comfortable on the internet where they usually have avatars with characteristics very different from their own.
• They get depressed easily.
• They alter your circadian rhythms. They sleep during the day and stay awake at night.

The world of Hikikomori adolescents is a cell that they build voluntarily and within which is where they only feel protected.

Adolescent Hikikomori Syndrome

There are conflicting opinions as to whether the behavioral symptoms of adolescent Hikikomori can and should be taken as those of a disease of the psyche.

Whether it is classified as a disease in itself that should be further investigated and treated as such or an avoidant personality disorder (a well-known condition), what is known so far is that this syndrome had its origins in Japanese adolescents , but at present it has spread to other regions, including Spain.

Causes that motivate the self-confinement of the Hikikomori

According to the opinions of the adolescents and young Hikikomori themselves, some of the causes that motivate their self-confinement are:

• The ridicule and social rejection they suffer at school.
• The inability to cope with the rigors and demands of your life
• Love failures.
• The low self-confidence that disables them to remain optimistic when it comes to striving to achieve their goals.
• Lack of affection at home.

What can parents of Hikikomori teens do?

To reverse the situation that affects the whole family, the parents of Hikikomori adolescents and young people, first of all, must seek psychological help.

In Japan, some families choose to give their children time and respect their behavior; they wait patiently for the young man in question to feel the need to come out of his confinement on his own. But at Eres Mamá we believe that families in the western world do not have the patience for it and it should be so.

We are social beings and we need physical contact to stimulate the brain, emotions and everything that makes us human. That is why our recommendation is clear:

Do not take the plate of food to her door, stick to her waiting to hear some noise inside her room and console yourself with the idea that “soon it will happen” and that you just have to give her time.

For no reason allow your child to isolate himself from you to the point that the room next to yours, overnight, is occupied by a person you do not know.

You are his mother and, as such, it is your responsibility to help him overcome his fears, be happy, grow up in a healthy way and be one of the group of teenagers who escape to go to a river, who break the neighbor’s window with a ball Or you are embarrassed every time the manager calls you with a complaint about him.

Even though none of these situations is the most exemplary, we are sure that many of the mothers with Hikikomori children would love to go through it sometime.