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An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori

Extreme and long-term social withdrawal, first described in Japan as Hikikomori, has now become a globally recognized mental health problem. Intervention studies severely lag behind epidemiological and phenomenological research. We present two descriptive case reports of Japanese university students...

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Autores principales: Yokoyama, Keiko, Furuhashi, Tadaaki, Yamamoto, Yuji, Rooksby, Maki, McLeod, Hamish J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10076732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37032932
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1084384
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author Yokoyama, Keiko
Furuhashi, Tadaaki
Yamamoto, Yuji
Rooksby, Maki
McLeod, Hamish J.
author_facet Yokoyama, Keiko
Furuhashi, Tadaaki
Yamamoto, Yuji
Rooksby, Maki
McLeod, Hamish J.
author_sort Yokoyama, Keiko
collection PubMed
description Extreme and long-term social withdrawal, first described in Japan as Hikikomori, has now become a globally recognized mental health problem. Intervention studies severely lag behind epidemiological and phenomenological research. We present two descriptive case reports of Japanese university students with Hikikomori who participated in an early phase test of a structured intervention involving physical activities that was developed and facilitated by clinicians and physical education specialists—Human Movement Consultation (HMC). The two recipients (19- and 29-years old at the start of treatment) completed approximately 40 consultation sessions delivered over 3 years consisting of a combination of outdoor workouts (i.e., walking, running, and cycling) and interpersonal sports (e.g., table tennis, badminton, and tennis). Changes in social withdrawal behavior were independently rated from clinical health records using a structured scale (the Glasgow Hikikomori Scale; GHS). Behavioral observations and scale data for both cases indicated improvements from pre-treatment levels of social withdrawal. At the end of the intervention, both had returned to normative levels of functioning. Case A returned to university and Case B secured a new job upon the completion of HMC. To help advance our understanding of treatment options, these case descriptions analyze potential change mechanisms in order to understand how HMC can support recovery from extreme social withdrawal. One key observation is that both outdoor workouts and interpersonal sports offer a non-threatening method of enabling Hikikomori to engage in interpersonal interactions. Such connections via structured activities may allow the reinstatement of social skills in a graded manner. In addition, an initial focus on physical experiences may help promote psychological and social connectedness without triggering the social fears and challenges that underlie the Hikikomori state. The findings from these two cases offer a framework to guide further research and the development of exercise-based interventions for this hidden and often neglected group.
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spelling pubmed-100767322023-04-07 An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori Yokoyama, Keiko Furuhashi, Tadaaki Yamamoto, Yuji Rooksby, Maki McLeod, Hamish J. Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Extreme and long-term social withdrawal, first described in Japan as Hikikomori, has now become a globally recognized mental health problem. Intervention studies severely lag behind epidemiological and phenomenological research. We present two descriptive case reports of Japanese university students with Hikikomori who participated in an early phase test of a structured intervention involving physical activities that was developed and facilitated by clinicians and physical education specialists—Human Movement Consultation (HMC). The two recipients (19- and 29-years old at the start of treatment) completed approximately 40 consultation sessions delivered over 3 years consisting of a combination of outdoor workouts (i.e., walking, running, and cycling) and interpersonal sports (e.g., table tennis, badminton, and tennis). Changes in social withdrawal behavior were independently rated from clinical health records using a structured scale (the Glasgow Hikikomori Scale; GHS). Behavioral observations and scale data for both cases indicated improvements from pre-treatment levels of social withdrawal. At the end of the intervention, both had returned to normative levels of functioning. Case A returned to university and Case B secured a new job upon the completion of HMC. To help advance our understanding of treatment options, these case descriptions analyze potential change mechanisms in order to understand how HMC can support recovery from extreme social withdrawal. One key observation is that both outdoor workouts and interpersonal sports offer a non-threatening method of enabling Hikikomori to engage in interpersonal interactions. Such connections via structured activities may allow the reinstatement of social skills in a graded manner. In addition, an initial focus on physical experiences may help promote psychological and social connectedness without triggering the social fears and challenges that underlie the Hikikomori state. The findings from these two cases offer a framework to guide further research and the development of exercise-based interventions for this hidden and often neglected group. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-03-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10076732/ /pubmed/37032932 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1084384 Text en Copyright © 2023 Yokoyama, Furuhashi, Yamamoto, Rooksby and McLeod. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Yokoyama, Keiko
Furuhashi, Tadaaki
Yamamoto, Yuji
Rooksby, Maki
McLeod, Hamish J.
An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori
title An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori
title_full An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori
title_fullStr An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori
title_full_unstemmed An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori
title_short An examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: Two case reports focused on the treatment of Hikikomori
title_sort examination of the potential benefits of expert guided physical activity for supporting recovery from extreme social withdrawal: two case reports focused on the treatment of hikikomori
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10076732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37032932
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1084384
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