“More people died from suicide in Japan in October than the total number of COVID-19 deaths up to that point in 2020.”
Japan has appointed a ‘Minister of Loneliness’ after seeing suicide rates in the country increase for the first time in 11 years
During the pandemic, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years in 2020.
Loneliness has long been an issue in Japan, often discussed alongside “hikikomori,” or people who live in extreme social isolation. People have worked to create far-ranging solutions to this issue: Engineers in Japan previously designed a robot to hold someone’s hand when they’re lonely and one man charges people to “do nothing” except keep them company.
More recently, researchers have developed more specific criteria to more accurately identify hikikomori. During a diagnostic interview, trained clinicians evaluate for:
- spending most of the day and nearly every day confined to home,
- marked and persistent avoidance of social situations, and social relationships,
- social withdrawal symptoms causing significant functional impairment,
- duration of at least six months, and
- no apparent physical or mental etiology to account for the social withdrawal symptoms.
It will be interesting to see what hikikomori-like after effects Covid will leave on the world.