Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective: Not Just a North American Phenomenon

I've been researching the concept of Japanese "Hikikomori" for a couple of months now, as an amateur researcher, and I found this book's article by Yuichi Hattori to be an excellent -- and to me, quite believable -- take on what causes "Social Withdrawal". I bought this entire book for that one article, and I feel I more than got my money's worth.Added food for thought, for other Hikikomori researchers (amateur or otherwise): if, as Hattori says (see page 196 of this book) "... Hikikomori is a trauma-based disorder, since the clients have histories of complex traumas, mostly from emotional neglect," then I would suggest that researchers also look at Pete Walker's excellent book, "Complex PTSD: From Surviving To Thriving," for more information on what Walker calls the "4F Distortions of Attachment and Safety Instincts". See pages 108 - 109 of Walker's book, for instance. On those pages, there's an excellent, easy-to-understand chart there, showing the "4F" types called "Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn". If my theory is correct, then one way to look at some Hikikomori's decision to socially withdraw might be that Complex PTSD ("C-PTSD") in the "freeze" type of coping mechanism, is the most common way that a person becomes a Hikikomori. That would imply three other ways also exist: which might explain why not everyone who "socially withdraws" (in Japan or in other country's population) is not necessarily going to manifest the "most common symptom types"; for lack of a better way for me to describe it.Another good set of "food for thought" starting places, for future Hikikomori research, might be the scientific work done by Dr. Elaine Aron, and her various colleagues, and those her work influenced over the years. I'm referring to "Sensory Processing Sensitivity," more commonly known to the public as being a "Highly Sensitive Person". Since I'm an HSP, myself, and since I have a childhood history that arguably constitutes Complex PTSD (long before Kindergarten) I think "social withdrawal" potentially makes more sense to "normies" if/when they look at the intersection of C-PTSD and High Sensitivity. I doubt every case (in Japan, or elsewhere) can be summed up that way, but I'm sure some can be looked at as being a "worst case scenario" of a Highly Sensitive Person, subjected to ample amounts of Complex PTSD to have wanted that one person to withdraw ... even if non-highly-sensitive (or "low-sensitive") people would look at the traumas that person suffered, and would not, in their own personal lives, have been affected to the same degree.(A reader could look up "Vantage Sensitivity" or "Differential Susceptibility" on "Google Scholar" to get a better picture of what I mean, when I say or imply that HSPs, subjected to C-PTSD, might end up becoming "Hikikomori". This is more of a good way to look at things, than might immediately be evident: because it implies, in turn, that it can perhaps be prevented, or at least held off for a while, in some possible future cases; by letting things like a given society or a given workplace adapt better to what HSPs need, that others would never consider to be "necessary". HSPs, under the right circumstances, might flourish and flower, more than low-sensitive or medium-sensitive people might. See also the DVD "Sensitive: The Untold Story" if any readers out there are trying to better figure out where I'm going, with this info...)To sum up: Yuichi Hattori's article, called "Social Withdrawal in Japanese Youth: A Case Study of Thirty-Five Hikikomori Clients" was a great read, for me. I've not yet read the rest of this book ("handbook"?) but I'm sure those are likely good and interesting reads, too: it seems like the overall "production values" and info content of this book are quite high.