More young people in social isolation

More and more young people in the Netherlands are ending up in social isolation, sometimes not leaving their rooms for years on end, Nieuwsuur reports. The program spoke to 15 therapists from mental health institutions throughout the country, and 12 reported an increase. They suspect growing pressure to perform, social media, and the impact of social distancing during the pandemic play a role in the increase.

This phenomenon is not unique to the Netherlands. In Japan, the problem of young people isolating themselves has become so great that there is a word for it - hikikomori, which means to “pull in” or “lock oneself away.” In Japan, an estimated 500,000 young people are severely isolated.

The Netherlands does not keep track of this figure, according to Nieuwsuur. But healthcare providers know for certain that the group is growing and that young people sometimes end up in dramatic circumstances. “We sometimes see pizza boxes with maggots crawling through the pizza in the young people’s rooms or a bed that hasn’t been changed for over a year,” Nico Beuk of Arkin, a mental health institution in Amsterdam, told the program.

Peter Muris, a professor of clinical psychology at Maastricht University, also sees the problem growing. “These teenagers or young adults simply don’t participate anymore. Some just sit in their rooms and never leave,” Muris said. “There are often underlying psychological problems. Think of anxiety, depression, or other conditions. The young people can’t keep up because of that and think: it won’t work anyway, I quit.”

That was the case for 21-year-old Emma, who has been diagnosed with ADHD and autism. She was isolated, hardly ever leaving her room, for four years, she told Nieuwsuur. “It’s terrible as if you're sliding further and further away from society.”

Joris Aardoom started isolating himself in secondary school. “I noticed that the amount of information I had to absorb was far too much,” he told Nieuwsuur. “The feeling that I didn’t belong grew bigger and bigger, and the energy to do my best to fit in became less and less.” Joris eventually dropped out of school, despite the best efforts of his mother, the truancy officer, youth care, and all kinds of care providers.

“I spent most of my days here in bed, often under the covers,” Joris said in the bedroom of his parental home. “I locked myself in and barricaded the door so that no one could get in. At one point, I didn’t even come downstairs to eat with the rest of the family.”

After years in isolation, he ended up in a school for gifted children, where he felt more at home. He slowly found his way back to society. “This room felt like a prison,” he said. “But now I realize that there is a lot outside these windows. And fortunately, I increasingly feel the freedom and safety to discover that world too.”

Professor Muris thinks society should take more account of young people falling through the cracks. “If school is less of a factory, or if companies open their doors more to people with autism, for example, during job interviews, then fewer young people will drop out.”