[Lighthouse keeper syndrome: update]

Abstract

A few years ago, with the expression "lighthouse keeper syndrome", we identified those who showed exceptional attention to the control of eating and body weight. Recently the same term was used to describe, at the end of the lockdown, the feeling of living with fear the encounter with external reality, which for many weeks remained confined outside our homes. We are of the opinion that the lighthouse keeper syndrome includes all those behaviors characterized by voluntary, even if often unconscious, social isolation and by the exasperated search for absolute dominion over a single aspect of our being. There are two types of social isolation, the static one typical of those who spend their time closed at home (hikikomori) and the dynamic one characteristic of those who go out, walk but do not interact with other individuals. The radicalization of some food trends can lead to convivial group social isolation. The changes in the characteristic clinical manifestations of lighthouse keeper syndrome demonstrate the impact of society and culture on the individual psychopathology.