Saturday 25 July 11:25
- 12:55
Hall: 03 - Volta
Chair and Presenter:
Bernabei Pamela
Discussant:
Palumbo Gabriella
Division: Division 3: Psychology and Societal Development
Adolescence today faces conditions of profound disorientation. One widespread phenomenon is Hikikomori - severe social withdrawal in which adolescents refuse to leave their rooms, cutting themselves off from school, work, and community life. Others embody the NEET condition - neither studying, nor working, nor training - drifting into indolence and dependence. Still others experience crises of identity and fragility, amplified by digital hyperconnection and the pressure of virtual models.
This symposium presents the ontopsychological pedagogy founded by Antonio Meneghetti as a framework to address these challenges. Its method is based on the recognition of the ontic In Sé as criterion of authenticity, and on pedagogical principles such as overcoming social memetics, educating to the harmonization of natural intentionality with social norms - and cultivating a renewed scale of values to orient youth in contemporary society.
Ontopsychological pedagogy offers a formation that integrates knowledge, responsibility, and creativity, aiming at the full realization of the person in his or her historical and social context. By restoring adolescents to their initiative and natural intentionality, it transforms withdrawal into participation, passivity into responsibility, and fragility into resilience.
The symposium is relevant to ICAP 2026 because it introduces an original pedagogy that responds to urgent global youth crises while aligning with SDG 4 (Quality Education). It offers a model of integral formation that equips adolescents to face contemporary challenges not as passive recipients of societal pressure, but as protagonists of their own development.
Presentations will cover:
1. The theoretical framework of ontopsychological pedagogy
2. The potential of digital mental health to advance the SDGs
3. Responses to adolescent isolation (Hikikomori)
4. Education against indolence and NEET dynamics
5. Identity and digital hyperconnection
6. Strategies for forming adults capable of leadership and service
