We call that a shut-in and it’s a behavior pattern (not exclusively) of teens, not something you can have/be. It can be caused by social tension/exclusion in school, in this case likely caused by misunderstandings due to light autism.
About autism (infodump):
it’s a range of (in most cases multiple) deviations in details of neurochemical parameters. Neurons communicate with each other not via direct contact but via transport chemicals. To nake things even more complex, those chemicals need to be “carried” by proteins. If somethong is wrong “configured”, the target can be under/overstimulated and/or give a too weak/strong signal or have a delay or whatever.
Luckily, the brain doesn’t work on the base of single neurons but on “waves” of synchronizated signales instead, so alltogether, such a “misconfigured” brain can still work well enough to allow some level of functioning/consciousness, with slight differences in understanding or performance in light cases.
Tl;dr: autism is not something you can “catch” or “have”, it’s how they are born, it’s how they are.
And while stress or some substances can have a influence on the likelyness, it’s something that happens in nature now and then and in most cases, one of the parents shows signs already.
A understanding and supporting environment is especially important for autists.
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Hikikomori only describes behaviour, not a mental state.
And it is not mutually exclusive with asd. You can become a hikikomori both because of autism, or despite being neurotypical.
A person can’t “have” hikikomori instead on being on the spectrum.
If anything, I’d suggest that being on the spectrum makes a person more likely to become a hikikomori. Especially if the needs of that person go unmet due to them being undiagnosed.
DacoTaco@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
^ this.
The same applies for ad(h)d and a few others. You can have ad(h)d without being on the asd spectrum but they often coincide.
Its a spectrum for crying out loud, a collection of sympthoms in a varying degree of severity. Because its a collection, which btw you need to have several in a specific degree to get asd diagnosed, it means that the sympthoms can coincide with other diagnoses.
Its like being overweight, which can come from being diabetes ( type 1 i think?) or from having a slow working thyroid or even from having a bad diet.
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Indeed.
But even beyond your point, mine is that hikikomori is a symptom, not a diagnosis.
Basically, saying “he’s not autistic, he’s just a hikikomori” is like saying “he’s not autistic, he’s just shy”.
One has nothing to do with the other, except when it does, and it’s possible to be both, or either.
CuffsOffWilly@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Read my comment again. Pay attention to the bolded part.