I too am a member of psychforums, but I mostly lurk in the AvPD section.

My username there is undying shadow.

I should start posting on other forums. It may help us get new interesting people.

Googled hikikomori. Signed up but then forgot about the site for a few months until I
saw the auto-confirmation in one of my numerous email accounts. Wasn't sure if I
should post here, since I'm just an unworthy recluse.

When I googled hikikomori and clicked on 'hikikomori forum'

I found this site via Chair's signature on alonelylife forums. I think this forum is more fitting for me.

I finished watching one of my favorite anime today, "Welcome to the NHK" and realizing that I shared many of the same characteristics of the protagonist I'd look into hikikomori culture. Essentially Google brought me here

I googled "Hikikomori Forum".

At the beginning of grade 12 I had a 'nervous breakdown' and was diagnosed with anxiety disorder and depressions. I started attending therapy and my therapist advised me to take a break from school for about four to five months. As there was basically nothing, apart from school, that had made me leave our house for a long time, I was not quite happy with this. I decided to follow that advice though, as I wanted to focus on my disorders first. And during those weeks, I became more and more reclusive, since I had no reason to leave our flat, apart from therapy and jogging. And I even became afraid of leaving the house. I have never felt too comfortable when being around other people, because I always feel like I have to pretend to be happy, which is quite exhausting. Three months after I had started my therapy, a friend of mine invited me out and as she is one of the rare people, I really trust, I told her about this specific fear. She is in a drama club and was then doing a play about hikikomori and said, I reminded her of one of the characters. That's when I first heard about this phenomenon. After googling 'hikikomori', I found this forum. And here I am.

HC discovered me.

After reading a news article in the New York Times, and watching a Korean movie about the lifestyle, called, the Loner.

I created it and for some reason it appeared. Why did that happen?

followed my nose, oh the places we goes...

I saw a link to it in Chair's signature over at Social Phobia World. I registered here and decided I liked this place a lot better than Social Phobia World, so I stayed here and never went back there.

rofl i guess you are taking a place in the greater picture of universal creation, yet unknown but essential! uncontrolled omnipotence

I discovered it when Chair appeared on a now dead aspie forum. I immediately recognized Chair as the only person on those boards with any class what so ever and developed and interest in him. So I decided to join his forum.

I found this place purely by chance. Searched Hikikomori into Google and this site seemed to catch my eye, plus this place doesn't seem bad at all.

Found HC through Google. :3

IRC.

My friend Caesium showed me it, so I signed up, ages ago, and now have just returned.

Someone mentioned hikikomori forums on a chan site, and I liked the idea of it (social problems etc), so I searched google to find an english one

Searched for the word "detached" somewhere and find myself here.

I happened up this place when I was looking through the encyclopedia on the word introversion, which brought to the next word of interest hikikomori. Then after which some how, by some unknown force happening, I came across an anime cal "Welcome To The N.H.K." which is based on a hiki name Saito. After I was done watching that, i went to google and type 'hi' with the intentions of searching for more hiki related anime and it brought this site up to me. Out of interest I joined.

you too huh? i thought i wuz normal untill i saw that show NHK....after 15 minutes of the first episode i wuz hooked and learned about hikikomori'z which lead me to this site....damn you NHK......

I stumbled upon a related word to hikikomori at Reddit in the, "what i learned today" section. After i looked it up on wikipedia, i found hikikomori, read what it was all about, and did a google search. A link to your forum was one of the first links in the results.