Social isolation
Hypothesized psychological reasons for the increase in kodokushi include social apathy and life stress. Social isolation is used as a coping mechanism to avoid stressful situations. Scholars have also analyzed how "contemporary discourse constructs kodokushi as a "bad death" and as evidence for the decay of "traditional" social bonds, such as family, neighborhood and company ties," with government and community initiatives thereby pushing "to implement new welfare systems, often suggesting to re-activate lost family and community bonds".