Treatments of internet gaming disorder: a systematic review of the evidence
Open accessAbstract
Introduction: The American Psychiatric Association included Internet gaming disorder (IGD) in the 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the World Health Organization included gaming disorder in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases. These recent updates suggest significant concern related to the harms of excessive gaming.Areas covered: This systematic review provides an updated summary of the scientific literature on treatments for IGD. Inclusion criteria were that studies: 1) evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention for IGD or excessive gaming; 2) use an experimental design (i.e. multi-armed [randomized or nonrandomized] or pretest-posttest); 3) include at least 10 participants per group; and 4) include an outcome measure of IGD symptoms or gaming duration. The review identified 22 studies evaluating treatments for IGD: 8 evaluating medication, 7 evaluating cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, and 7 evaluating other interventions and psychosocial treatments.Expert opinion: Even with the recent uptick in publication of such clinical trials, methodological flaws prevent strong conclusions about the efficacy of any treatment for IGD. Additional well-designed clinical trials using common metrics for assessing IGD symptoms are needed to advance the field.
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Research on psychological interventions for gaming disorder is an area that has grown in conjunction with the recognition of the disorder.
“Research on psychological interventions for gaming disorder is an area that has grown in conjunction with the recognition of the disorder 159,162 .”
Outside the East Asian context, almost no national health care responses or other organized health service programs had developed in response to the need for problem gaming services.
“Outside the East Asian context, almost no national health care responses or other organized health service programs had developed in response to this need 139,156,157 , even in pioneering countries that had highlighted gaming disorder in their national health or addiction strategic plans more than a decade ago 158,159 .”
From Emerging experience with selected new categories in the <scp>ICD</scp>‐11: complex <scp>PTSD</scp>, prolonged grief disorder, gaming disorder, and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder (2022) · cites this paper as [159]
The Expert opinion section says over half the reviewed treatment studies were conducted in South Korea, but it does not assess national health-care responses or the availability of organized health-service programs outside East Asia. It also notes that treatment facilities and online support groups had appeared internationally. Searches for national responses and organized programs found no passage establishing that almost none had developed. (LLM, conf=0.72)
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References 47 · Cited by 227
- Authors
- Zajac, K., Ginley, M. K., & Chang, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Connecticut (US)
- East Tennessee State University (US)
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA
- Corresponding author
- Zajac, Kristyn
- Venue
- Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-09-26
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 85-93
- ISSN
- 1473-7175 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-8360
- PMC
- PMC6930980
- OpenAlex
- W2977096939
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 8 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 4.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Commons - East Tennessee State University (East Tennessee State University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (K23DA034879, R21DA042900)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Keywords
- internet gaming disorder, gaming disorder, treatment efficacy, cognitive behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy, psychosocial interventions, excessive gaming, DSM-5, ICD-11
- MeSH terms
- Internet Addiction Disorder, Psychosocial Intervention, Humans, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Video Games
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