this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2026
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I don't think the shut-in believes it's normal or okay to be a shut-in. It's a feeling of complete failure to fit in and isolating as a result. The longer the shut-in is ostracized (or keeping themself ostracized), the stronger the feeling becomes that they do not fit in, they will never fit in, if there was ever an opportunity to fit in they surely missed it now. Being a 38 year old shut-in is actually very believable to me,it isn't exactly a situation that challenges your beliefs or motivates you to change.
Sure, it's harsh to put this all on enabling parents, but you also don't get to 38 without enabling. You don't leave the "last resort" on the table for 10-15 years. The very long list should be exhausted within 2 years and one of the options should be a therapist specialized in shut-ins. Beyond that, you'll just have to hope and pray that one day something clicks in that brain and they start taking charge of their own life.
I agree they should have kicked him out earlier, but I think the people blaming the parents would blame even harder the younger the child is.
No one is saying "he's too old to be kicked out of the house", they're saying "you can't kick a child out of the house EVER unless they're fully prepared for life".
What I'm saying is that after some point an adult is responsible for themselves, and that point is far below 38.
I'm also saying that it's nice to imagine parents can prepare an adult, but parents have a very limited ability to guide or influence an adult child. If he doesn't want to improve his situation you can't force him to get a job, get a house, make friends, go outside, stop frequenting toxic online spaces. He's an adult, he will just say no and not do it. You can't even force him to get help or get therapy, or take any depressants or do literally anything to improve his life if he doesn't want to. All you can do is give them more resources, or give them fewer resources. I think they tried both and now they're trying "give them much less" by kicking them out.