Hikikomori Culture Bound Syndrome

Hikikomori is a quickly developing syndrome based in Japan in which adolescents “lock themselves away in their rooms for months, years, or even sometimes decades at a time, with minimal social contact” (Rosenthal and Donald 82). While mutually agreed upon as being a form of social withdrawal, the definite cause of this syndrome has yet to be determined. However, it can be argued that Hikikomori is a culture-bound syndrome as it meets, at least, three of the four requirements within the definition of a culture-bound syndrome: it is a distinct syndrome, it is specific to its associated culture, and there is a higher prevalence of the disorder within the recognized culture (Teo and Gaw 445). In this essay, I will use different articles to analyze