Nicolas Tajan, Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan: Beyond the Hikikomori Spectrum

Nicolas Tajan, Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan: Beyond the Hikikomori Spectrum

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Nicolas Tajan, Book, Review

Abstract

Keywords

Nicolas Tajan, This book stands on its own in the Japan Anthropology Workshop Series since it was penned by a non-anthropologist on a subject that is not typically explored in the humanities and social sciences: hikikomori. Hikikomori, or acute social withdrawal, is a term coined by the Japanese psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki, and is seen in Japan more frequently than in any other country that has a strong cultural links to Japanese society. Because of their status as “social refugees” (p. 134) the hikikomori are inherently resistant to medical treatment, which is why this study focuses on the gap in much-needed anthropological studies into mental health in Japan. It is an important contribution to the body of knowledge on hikikomori because of its combination of clinical and anthropological methods. Tajan is challenging some of the current psychiatric knowledge and essentialized conceptions about hikikomori by integrating his clinical knowledge with his ethnographic fieldwork and anthropological curiosity.

Abstract

Keywords

Nicolas Tajan, This book stands on its own in the Japan Anthropology Workshop Series since it was penned by a non-anthropologist on a subject that is not typically explored in the humanities and social sciences: hikikomori. Hikikomori, or acute social withdrawal, is a term coined by the Japanese psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki, and is seen in Japan more frequently than in any other country that has a strong cultural links to Japanese society. Because of their status as “social refugees” (p. 134) the hikikomori are inherently resistant to medical treatment, which is why this study focuses on the gap in much-needed anthropological studies into mental health in Japan. It is an important contribution to the body of knowledge on hikikomori because of its combination of clinical and anthropological methods. Tajan is challenging some of the current psychiatric knowledge and essentialized conceptions about hikikomori by integrating his clinical knowledge with his ethnographic fieldwork and anthropological curiosity.

Abstract

Keywords

Nicolas Tajan, This book stands on its own in the Japan Anthropology Workshop Series since it was penned by a non-anthropologist on a subject that is not typically explored in the humanities and social sciences: hikikomori. Hikikomori, or acute social withdrawal, is a term coined by the Japanese psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki, and is seen in Japan more frequently than in any other country that has a strong cultural links to Japanese society. Because of their status as “social refugees” (p. 134) the hikikomori are inherently resistant to medical treatment, which is why this study focuses on the gap in much-needed anthropological studies into mental health in Japan. It is an important contribution to the body of knowledge on hikikomori because of its combination of clinical and anthropological methods. Tajan is challenging some of the current psychiatric knowledge and essentialized conceptions about hikikomori by integrating his clinical knowledge with his ethnographic fieldwork and anthropological curiosity.