Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan

Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: Nicolas Tajan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351260782
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
This book examines the phenomenon of social withdrawal in Japan, which ranges from school non-attendance to extreme forms of isolation and confinement, known as hikikomori. Based on extensive original research including interview research with a range of practitioners involved in dealing with the phenomenon, the book outlines how hikikomori expresses itself, how it is treated and dealt with and how it has been perceived and regarded in Japan over time. The author, a clinical psychologist with extensive experience of practice, argues that the phenomenon although socially unacceptable is not homogenous, and can be viewed not as a mental disorder, but as an idiom of distress, a passive and effective way of resisting the many great pressures of Japanese schooling and of Japanese society more widely. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351260800, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CCBY-NC-ND) licence.

Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan

Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: Nicolas Tajan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351260782
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book examines the phenomenon of social withdrawal in Japan, which ranges from school non-attendance to extreme forms of isolation and confinement, known as hikikomori. Based on extensive original research including interview research with a range of practitioners involved in dealing with the phenomenon, the book outlines how hikikomori expresses itself, how it is treated and dealt with and how it has been perceived and regarded in Japan over time. The author, a clinical psychologist with extensive experience of practice, argues that the phenomenon although socially unacceptable is not homogenous, and can be viewed not as a mental disorder, but as an idiom of distress, a passive and effective way of resisting the many great pressures of Japanese schooling and of Japanese society more widely. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351260800, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CCBY-NC-ND) licence.

Mental Health Challenges Facing Contemporary Japanese Society

Mental Health Challenges Facing Contemporary Japanese Society PDF Author: Yuko Kawanishi
Publisher: Global Oriental
ISBN: 9004213023
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
This book addresses the profound question of mental malaise in its many forms in contemporary Japanese society, focusing on three main areas: work, family and youth. The purpose is to provide an analytical, critical account of the social psychological state of the Japanese today, as well as to present possible measures that could contribute to positive outcomes. Following the boom and bust years of the Japanese economy in the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese society was faced with the burden of rapid change and adjustment resulting in a significant increase in psychological and personality disorders at a level unknown in the past. These include karo-jisatsu (suicide by overwork), sekkusu-resu (sexless marriage), kateinairikon (in house divorce) and hikikomori (complete social withdrawal). This study will be widely welcomed by sociologists, psychologists and mental health professionals interested in the interconnectedness of culture and social structure, personality and psychopathology, and the historical development of these issues. It also offers valuable insight into questions relating to cross-cultural understanding.

A Research Agenda For DSM V

A Research Agenda For DSM V PDF Author: David J. Kupfer
Publisher: American Psychiatric Pub
ISBN: 1585627720
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
In the ongoing quest to improve our psychiatric diagnostic system, we are now searching for new approaches to understanding the etiological and pathophysiological mechanisms that can improve the validity of our diagnoses and the consequent power of our preventive and treatment interventions -- venturing beyond the current DSM paradigm and DSM-IV framework. This thought-provoking volume -- produced as a partnership between the American Psychiatric Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse -- represents a far-reaching attempt to stimulate research and discussion in the field in preparation for the eventual start of the DSM-V process, still several years hence. The book Explores a variety of basic nomenclature issues, including the desirability of rating the quality and quantity of information available to support the different disorders in the DSM in order to indicate the disparity of empirical support across the diagnostic system. Offers a neuroscience research agenda to guide development of a pathophysiologically based classification for DSM-V, which reviews genetic, brain imaging, postmortem, and animal model research and includes strategic insights for a new research agenda. Presents highlights of recent progress in developmental neuroscience, genetics, psychology, psychopathology, and epidemiology, using a bioecological perspective to focus on the first two decades of life, when rapid changes in behavior, emotion and cognition occur. Discusses how to address two important gaps in the current DSM-IV: (1) the categorical method of diagnosing personality disorders and their relationship with Axis I disorders, and (2) the limited provision for the diagnosis of relational disorders -- suggesting a research agenda for personality disorders that considers replacing the current categorical approach with a dimensional classification of personality. Reevaluates the relationship between mental disorders and disability, asserting that research into disability and impairment would benefit from the diagnosis of mental disorders be uncoupled from a requirement for impairment or disability to foster a more vigorous research agenda on the etiologies, courses, and treatment of mental disorders as well as disabilities and to avert unintended consequences of delayed diagnosis and treatment. Examines the importance of culture in psychopathology and the main cultural variables at play in the diagnostic process, stating that training present and future professionals in the need to include cultural factors in the diagnostic process is a logical step in any attempt to develop comprehensive research programs in psychology, psychiatry, and related disciplines. This fascinating work, with contributions from an international group of research investigators, reaches into the core of psychiatry, providing invaluable background and insights for all psychology and psychiatry professionals -- food for thought and further research that will be relevant for years to come.

Hikikomori

Hikikomori PDF Author: Tamaki Saitō
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780816654581
Category : Social distance
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This is the first English translation of a controversial Japanese best seller that made the public aware of the social problem of hikikomori, or "withdrawal"--a phenomenon estimated by the author to involve as many as one million Japanese adolescents and young adults who have withdrawn from society, retreating to their rooms for months or years and severing almost all ties to the outside world. Saitō Tamaki's work of popular psychology provoked a national debate about the causes and extent of the condition. Since Hikikomori was published in Japan in 1998, the problem of social withdrawal has increasingly been recognized as an international one, and this translation promises to bring much-needed attention to the issue in the English-speaking world. According to the New York Times, "As a hikikomori ages, the odds that he'll re-enter the world decline. Indeed, some experts predict that most hikikomori who are withdrawn for a year or more may never fully recover. That means that even if they emerge from their rooms, they either won't get a full-time job or won't be involved in a long-term relationship. And some will never leave home. In many cases, their parents are now approaching retirement, and once they die, the fate of the shut-ins--whose social and work skills, if they ever existed, will have atrophied--is an open question." Drawing on his own clinical experience with hikikomori patients, Saitō creates a working definition of social withdrawal and explains its development. He argues that hikikomori sufferers manifest a specific, interconnected series of symptoms that do not fit neatly with any single, easily identifiable mental condition, such as depression. Rejecting the tendency to moralize or pathologize, Saitō sensitively describes how families and caregivers can support individuals in withdrawal and help them take steps toward recovery. At the same time, his perspective sparked contention over the contributions of cultural characteristics--including family structure, the education system, and gender relations--to the problem of social withdrawal in Japan and abroad.

Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan

Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan PDF Author: Jeff Kingston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351139622
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
This new and fully updated second edition of Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan provides undergraduate and graduate students with an interdisciplinary textbook written by leading specialists on contemporary Japan. Students will gain the analytical insights and information necessary to assess the challenges that confront the Japanese people, policymakers and private and public-sector institutions in Japan today. Featuring a comprehensive analysis of key debates and issues confronting Japan, issues covered include: A rapidly aging society and changing employment system Nuclear and renewable energy policy Gender discrimination Immigration and ethnic minorities Post-3/11 tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown developments Sino-Japanese relations An essential reference work for students of contemporary Japan, it is also an invaluable source for a variety of courses, including comparative politics, anthropology, public policy and international relations.

A Sociology of Japanese Youth

A Sociology of Japanese Youth PDF Author: Roger Goodman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 041566926X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
This book puts forth a sociology of Japanese youth problems showing that the Japanese media draw on an equally, if not more, perplexing gallery of social categories when it discusses youth than affluent Western societies such as the US or UK and that Japan is no less replete with social problems involving young people and no less capable of generating hysteria over the fate of its youth than affluent Western societies such as the US or UK.

Shutting Out the Sun

Shutting Out the Sun PDF Author: Michael Zielenziger
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307490904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In Shutting Out the Sun, Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan’s rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country’s malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, Shutting Out the Sun is a bold explanation of Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.

Handbook of Cultural Psychiatry

Handbook of Cultural Psychiatry PDF Author: Wen-Shing Tseng
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0080525628
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 877

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Book Description
Cultural psychiatry is primarily concerned with the transcultural aspects of mental health related to human behavior, psychopathology and treatment. At a clinical level, cultural psychiatry aims to promote culturally relevant mental health care for patients of diverse ethnic or cultural backgrounds. From the standpoint of research, cultural psychiatry is interested in studying how ethnic or cultural factors may influence human behavior and psychopathology as well as the art of healing. On a theoretical level, cultural psychiatry aims to expand the knowledge and theories about mental health-related human behavior and mental problems by widening the sources of information and findings transculturally, and providing cross-cultural validation. This work represents the first comprehensive attempt to pull together the clinical, research and theoretical findings in a single volume. Key Features * Written by a nationally and internationally well-known author and scholar * The material focuses not only on the United States but also on various cultural settings around the world so that the subject matter can be examined broadly from universal as well as cross-cultural perspectives * Proper combination of clinical practicalities and conceptual discussion * Serves as a major source for use in the training of psychiatric residents and mental health personnel as well as students of behavior science in the areas of culture and mental health * A total of 50 chapters with detailed cross-referencing * Nearly 2000 references plus an appendix of almost 400 books * 130 tables and figures

Scandal in Japan

Scandal in Japan PDF Author: Igor Prusa
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000923444
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
This book is an exploration of media scandals in contemporary Japanese society. In shedding new light on the study of scandal in Japan, the book offers a novel view of scandal as a specific mediatized ritual which follows moral disturbances throughout Japanese history. Media and society are analyzed largely in terms of social performances, while the focus is on how Japanese transgressors talk and act when explaining their scandals to the public. A detailed analysis of three case studies is provided: the drug scandal of the popular Japanese celebrity Sakai Noriko; the donation scandal centering the heavyweight politician Ozawa Ichirō; and the Olympus accounting fraud revealed by the British CEO Michael Woodford. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese culture and society, anthropology, communication and media studies.

Crafting Rural Japan

Crafting Rural Japan PDF Author: Shilla Lee
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040152791
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
This book discusses the place of creative village policy in the revitalisation of rural Japan, highlighting how rural Japan is moving from a state of regional extinction to regional rejuvenation. Using the case study of Tamba Sasayama in Hyogo Prefecture, where collective initiatives by local government and the role of the local traditional potters are invested in fostering an aura of creativity in the region, the book examines the complex social relations and the intertwining values of different actors to illustrate how a growing outlook on creativity, rurality, and rural creativity requires a renewed perspective on and of rural Japan. Based on extensive field research, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, rural studies, and anthropology.