2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
An Anthropological study of 'medicalization'of hikikomori: HolisticApproaches to hikikomori tojisha, support, and medicine
| Project/Area Number |
22720333
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Cultural anthropology/Folklore
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| Research Institution | Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2010 – 2012
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| Keywords | ひきこもり / 医療化 / 人類学 / 精神医療 / メンタルヘルス / 発達障害 / 当事者 / 精神障害 |
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| Research Abstract |
This project has critically examined ‘medicalization’ of hikikomori from the perspectives of medical anthropology. This study has revealed how the ‘medicalization’ of hikikomori appears to remain limited at the clinical level. But it has also shown that its ‘medicalization’ indeed appears to be in progress if we pay attention to how hikikomori has been incorporated into the Japanese mental health and welfare system as a ‘social problem’that requires various modes of support including those from medical perspectives, and ways in which the support for hikikomori and identities of hikikomori tojisha (those who see themselves as concerned with the issue) are intimately linked to mental health care and psychiatry in Japan.
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