Purpose To explore whether the ‘hikikomori’ syndrome (social withdrawal) described in Japan exists in other countries, and if so, how patients with the syndrome are diagnosed and treated. Methods Two hikikomori case vignettes were sent to psychiatrists in Australia, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA. Participants rated the syndrome's prevalence in their country, etiology, diagnosis, suicide risk, and treatment. Results Out of 247 responses to the questionnaire (123 from Japan and 124 from other countries), 239 were enrolled in the analysis. Respondents’ felt the hikikomori syndrome is seen in all countries examined and especially in urban areas. Biopsychosocial, cultural, and environmental factors were all listed as probable causes of hikikomori, and differences among countries were not significant. Japanese psychiatrists suggested treatment in outpatient wards and some did not think that psychiatric treatment is necessary. Psychiatrists in other countries opted for more active treatment such as hospitalization. Conclusions Patients with the hikikomori syndrome are perceived as occurring across a variety of cultures by psychiatrists in multiple countries. Our results provide a rational basis for study of the existence and epidemiology of hikikomori in clinical or community populations in international settings.

Background-Hikikomori, a form of social withdrawal first reported in Japan, may exist globally but cross-national studies of cases of hikikomori are lacking.

Aim The problems of youth social withdrawal (or hikikomori) became a hot‐button social issue in Japan in the 1990s. Unfortunately, current nosology in the DSM‐IV may not adequately capture the concept of socially withdrawn youth (SWY) or hikikomori. This study aimed to investigate core SWY issues, evaluate SWY's psychopathologies, and approach them therapeutically through a home visitation program. Methods Participants were 65 youth referred by community mental health centers and psychiatric clinics around Seoul and Kyongki‐Do province. Among them, only 41 participants (31 male, 10 female, mean age 15 ± 3.6 years) fit our SWY criteria. In addition, 248 middle and high school students in Seoul were recruited as a baseline control group. Caseworkers interviewed the SWY participants and their parents in their homes, using our structured interview manual and a number of psychiatric scales. Caseworkers also approached the participants therapeutically. Results Participants' Depression Inventory, Trait Anxiety Inventory, Social Anxiety Scale, and Internet Addiction Scale scores were significantly higher than those of baseline controls. Participants' mean number of psychotherapeutic sessions was 2.8, and the mean number of parental interview sessions was 3.4. After the therapeutic sessions, Global Assessment Functioning scores and social activities had improved somewhat in 68.3% of participants. Conclusion These findings suggest that SWY is a complex phenomenon, so an individual psychopathologic process is very important for treatment. The most difficult problem in SWY treatment was therapeutic access. Hence, the home visit approach with a structured manual may be a good gateway for solving this problem.

With widespread use of the smartphone, clinical evidence for smartphone addiction remains unclear. Against this background, we analyzed the effect of smartphone use patterns on smartphone addiction in Korean adolescents. A total of 370 middle school students participated. The severity of smartphone addiction was measured through clinical interviews and the Korean Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale. As a result, 50 (13.5%) were in the smartphone addiction group and 320 (86.5%) were in the healthy group. To investigate the effect of smartphone use patterns on smartphone addiction, we performed self-report questionnaires that assessed the following items: smartphone functions mostly used, purpose of use, problematic use, and parental attitude regarding smartphone use. For smartphone functions mostly used, the addiction group showed significantly higher scores in “Online chat.” For the purpose of use, the addiction group showed significantly higher “habitual use,” “pleasure,” “communication,” “games,” “stress relief,” “ubiquitous trait,” and “not to be left out.” For problematic use, the addiction group showed significantly higher scores on “preoccupation,” “tolerance,” “lack of control,” “withdrawal,” “mood modification,” “conflict,” “lies,” “excessive use,” and “loss of interest.” For parental attitude regarding children's smartphone use, the addiction group showed significantly higher scores in “parental punishment.” Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that “female,” “use for learning,” “use for ubiquitous trait,” “preoccupation,” and “conflict” were significantly correlated with smartphone addiction. This study demonstrated that the risk factors for smartphone addiction were being female, preoccupation, conflict, and use for ubiquitous trait; the protective factor was use for learning. Future studies will be required to reveal the additional clinical evidence of the disease entity for smartphone addiction.

Stretchable and transparent touch sensors are essential input devices for future stretchable transparent electronics. Capacitive touch sensors with a simple structure of only two electrodes and one dielectric are an established technology in current rigid electronics. However, the development of stretchable and transparent capacitive touch sensors has been limited due to changes in capacitance resulting from dimensional changes in elastomeric dielectrics and difficulty in obtaining stretchable transparent electrodes that are stable under large strains. Herein, a stretch-unresponsive stretchable and transparent capacitive touch sensor array was demonstrated by employing stretchable and transparent electrodes with a simple selective-patterning process and by carefully selecting dielectric and substrate materials with low strain responsivity. A selective-patterning process was used to embed a stretchable and transparent silver nanowires/reduced graphene oxide (AgNWs/rGO) electrode line into a polyurethane (PU) dielectric layer on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate using oxygen plasma treatment. This method provides the ability to directly fabricate thin film electrode lines on elastomeric substrates and can be used in conventional processes employed in stretchable electronics. We used a dielectric (PU) with a Poisson's ratio smaller than that of the substrate (PDMS), which prevented changes in the capacitance resulting from stretching of the sensor. The stretch-unresponsive touch sensing capability of our transparent and stretchable capacitive touch sensor has great potential in wearable electronics and human-machine interfaces.