At least half a million young men in Japan are thought to have withdrawn from society, and refuse to leave their bedrooms。 They’re known as hikikomori。
( “。。。he was struck by the number of parents who sought his help with children who had quit school and hidden themselves away for months and sometimes years at a time。 These young people were often from middle-class families, they were almost always male, and the average age for their withdrawal was 15。” - BBC: Hikikomori: Why are so many Japanese men refusing to leave their rooms?)
齐藤发现,他们的内心正“备受折磨”……
“They are tormented in the mind,” he says。 “They want to go out in the world, they want to make friends or lovers, but they can‘t。”
齐藤说,“他们的内心正备受折磨。他们其实想出去闯荡世界,也想交朋友谈恋爱,但他们做不到。”
Symptoms vary between patients。 For some, violent outbursts alternate with infantile behaviour such as pawing at the mother‘s body。 Other patients might be obsessive, paranoid and depressed。
The trigger for a boy retreating to his bedroom might be comparatively slight - poor grades or a broken heart, for example - but the withdrawal itself can become a source of trauma。 And powerful social forces can conspire to keep him there。
其二,则和日本家庭的特征有关——
A second social factor is the amae - dependence - that characterises Japanese family relationships。 Young women traditionally live with their parents until marriage, and men may never move out of the family home。 → 传统上,年轻的日本女性结婚前都和父母住在一起,而男性则可能永远也不会搬离自己家庭。
Even though about half of hikikomori are violent towards their parents, for most families it would be unthinkable to throw them out。 → 尽管约一半的蛰居族都对父母很暴力,但父母真要把他们赶出家门,那也是不可想象的。