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Hikikomori: When the ‘safety’ of solitude becomes a prison
Some people withdraw from society and retreat into their shells. Is it possible to coax them back?
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Hikikomori is currently viewed as a sociocultural mental health phenomenon, rather than a distinct mental illness.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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“Why seek out solitude?” asked the writer Pico Iyer. “Only so I can have something happy and different – fresh – to share with my friends. Otherwise I’m just sleepwalking through my days, chit-chatting about nothing. It’s only by stepping away from the world that I recall what I most love in it and how best to give back something rich and real.”
Solitude is that state of grace and silence within which we can reflect, grieve, appreciate, and restore ourselves. In silence, creative ideas are born too.
