Hikikomori - Not just a japanese phenomenon

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I just read a page about Hikikomori, this a severe social withdraw seen in some Japanese Teen’s. Its Otaku times 10.

http://www.mrsci.com/Anxiety-Disorders/Hikikomori.php

I experienced the same phenomena, beginning at 14 years old.

I read that autism can get worse in adolescence due to hormonal reasons. Also Simon Baron-Cohen has the idea that autism is caused by excess testosterone exposure before birth. So I think many autistic’s are just very sensitive to testosterone. It also explains the Male>Female ratio.

From my personal experience, Hikikomori, looks like a typical increase in autism during adolescence due to hormonal changes. Well I’m sure there are other contributing reasons, the high pressure school environment and forced conformity. High density (autistic unfriendly) living conditions etc.

Well, I’d like to hear others ideas on the Japanese Otaku and Hikikomori phenomena.[/url]

I became more social by 26 to 27 years old when I went to college. College helped me allot, I was in a small class of 11 students, 6 female. They were all good friends to me. A bit like a very social family.

In fact, the treatment for Hikikomori is removal from the asocial environment (bed room) and transfer to a far more social one (group home). Some families can be somewhat asocial and private, perhaps due to other family members having a touch of autism themselves, so it may not be the house hermits fault; a bit like living like a monk in a monastery.

Perhaps you could start a college or evening course etc. and start meeting people? Also, having people push you and make decisions for you can be helpful. We Aspies can be procrastinators and poorly organised. It is so easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over each day.

I was told by a psychologists that its is called Imprisonment by Routine

I was extremely anti-social, both in the home and in society at large, until I began coming out around 10-12. Then I went through a more social stage until around 15. I have never become the detatched little recluse that I was as a small child, but I actually prefer to stay home alot. I rarely get excited about going anywhere, but do it out of necessity. (which forces me to leave home daily) I think the stress of handling people, and other annoying stimuli. makes me tired.
Interesting comment about testosterone. Could that make a women more "man-like"? (not necessarily in looks, but in thinking or behaviour?