Hikikomori

Hikikomori is a Japanese word for severe social withdrawal: staying at home, or in one room, for six months or more, avoiding school, work and nearly all contact beyond the family. It was first described in Japan and is now reported in many countries. It isn’t a diagnosis in ICD-11 or DSM-5, but it often comes with treatable conditions.

Also called: severe or pathological social withdrawal; “shut-in” in English. In Japan it names both the pattern and the person. The Japanese government’s definition is withdrawal from society for six months or longer.

Signs and symptoms

Staying inside the home, often one room, almost all the time, for months
Not going to school or work, and not looking for either
Little or no contact with friends; conversation limited to family, or not even that
Days turned around: awake at night, asleep by day, online for most waking hours

Researchers proposing formal criteria describe three parts: marked social isolation at home, lasting at least six months, with real harm to the person’s life. Chosen time alone that restores you isn’t withdrawal.

Causes

There’s no single cause. Psychiatrists across nine countries named biological, psychological, social, cultural and environmental factors, and saw the pattern most in cities. Studies point to:

Mental health conditions: in a Japanese community survey, more than half of people who had been through hikikomori had also had a mood, anxiety, impulse-control or substance problem. About half had none.
Social anxiety and autistic traits: among UK students, withdrawal tendencies tracked distress, autism-related traits and gaming problems.
A setback with no way back: failing an exam, losing a job, bullying. In Osaka, withdrawal was linked with unemployment, truancy, being male, and lacking a place outside the home where you feel accepted.

How common it is

In Japan, 1.2% of adults aged 20 to 49 had experienced it in a 2002 to 2006 survey, and 2.3% of people aged 15 to 64 met the definition in a 2020 to 2021 Osaka study, middle-aged adults as often as young ones. Surveys put Japan’s total between half a million and two million. In South Korea, 1.2% of adults aged 19 to 34 met the definition. No Nigerian study exists.

Treatment

Researchers recommend starting with the family, usually the only people still in contact, then individual therapy matched to whatever sits underneath: depression, social anxiety, autism, a gaming problem or a loss. Small, graded steps back into contact work better than ultimatums. Online sessions, by chat or voice, can be a first step for someone who won’t yet leave the house. In Korea, people in withdrawal were over four times more likely to have unmet mental health needs, so the first task is often getting help to the person at all.

In Nigeria

There’s no Nigerian research on hikikomori, so this is observation, not a figure. Many young Nigerians stay home after graduation because there’s no work, or because the streets feel unsafe. That isn’t withdrawal: they’d go if there were somewhere to go. The pattern to notice is the graduate, or the person who failed JAMB twice, who has stopped answering friends, lives online at night and panics at the idea of a family function. Families often read it as laziness or something spiritual. Treating it as a problem to understand, not a character to correct, is where help starts.

Hikikomori vs social anxiety, depression, autism and introversion

Social anxiety: fear of being judged drives the avoidance; many people with hikikomori have it, many don’t.
Depression: low mood and loss of interest; withdrawal is one result among many.
Autism: a developmental difference in social communication, usually noticed in childhood, not a six-month pattern.
Introversion: a preference for quiet and small company, with a full life kept up.
Loneliness: wanting more connection than you have. Some people in withdrawal are lonely; others say they aren’t. Our loneliness guide covers being alone versus being lonely.

When to get help

If someone who has withdrawn talks about ending their life, or you’re frightened for their safety, get help now: call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000. The full list is on our helplines page.

If you or someone at home has cut off nearly all contact for months, talk to a therapist. Sessions on Mytherapist.ng run by video, voice or chat, so the first step can happen from the room. You can book a licensed therapist for general mental health or anxiety. Parents and siblings can book family therapy for themselves.