4 ms·

> “hikikomori,” in Japan, when people socially withdraw to the point where they never leave home. That's not a "made up disease you only get if you believe in

• plorkyeran 10y ago
  > Quackery that encourages the harmful notion that people suffering from mental illness should "just get over it". That is the exact opposite of the author's position. Perhaps you should actually read the article.
  • daveguy 10y ago
    I did read it. Did you? It is full of this garbage: > The more powerful those stories are, the more you believe in the root forces in them and the causal forces that are holding those stories together. In our culture it would be biochemistry, in traditional Chinese medicine it would be balancing between yin and yang, balancing the forces in the universe, in Nigerian traditional beliefs it would be the power of magic and the ability of people to manipulate that. And another: > You think when you take an aspirin that your pain relief is coming purely from the aspirin doing something biochemical in your body, but part of that's also coming from your belief in aspirin, and the knowledge that you took the aspirin. The whole article is about "placebo" disease. This is a crappy way to think about mental illness.
    • aarpmcgee 10y ago
      What, in your mind, is a better way to think about mental illness?
      • daveguy 10y ago
        As an illness to be studied scientifically with the best medical practices available. As an illness to be closely monitored by healthcare professionals and treated with therapy and medicine if necessary. Implying that mental illness is a negative placebo does more harm than good.
    • sillysaurus3 10y ago
      There's an interesting CGP video related to placebo disease: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hO4_UEe-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hO4_UEe-4 I'd be curious to know if you think the video is also bad.
      • daveguy 10y ago
        That video does a good job of explaining the difference between negative placebo effects and illness. The article conflates actual mental illness with placebo effect. They are not the same, and telling someone who is suffering depression that it's all in their head is harmful, not helpful.
• derefr 10y ago
  Whatever the personal aspect, Hikikomori-ism is a disease you only get if those you live with believe that it's a thing, and thus see some reason to support you in living that way. That support is a uniquely Japanese-cultural phenomenon. Either way, the same number probably have severe depression and end up with an episode of agoraphobia; but in the rest of the world, the agoraphobia tends to go away with constant doses of the exposure therapy known as "your family and friends dragging you outside." EDIT: to clarify, the depression doesn't go away (if only life was that easy.) But exposure therapy (i.e. "facing your fear"—usually in a safe, low-stakes context, in short bursts) is how you treat phobias. Going outside is the "actual treatment for" agoraphobia. And in the rest of the world, people just automatically try to apply that treatment to agoraphobic people: they take them out (whether they like it or not—not usually through coercion per se, but through anxiety to conform to social etiquette.) From speaking to a psychiatry-student friend who did a rotation in a Japanese hospital (not the best primary source, but it's what I've got), my understanding is that in Japan, mental illness is something covered up by family: if you decide to shut yourself in your room, your family will both actively prevent anyone from knowing you're doing this, and actively prevent anyone from trying to see you. Because, in seeing you, they'd find out about the shameful situation your family is dealing with. Which prevents the whole intuitive-exposure-therapy bit from happening.
  • ggggtez 10y ago
    Remember the time when Western culture cured all depression by telling people to go outside and visit family? I don't either.
    • deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]