A manualized cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program that combines group and individual interventions might effectively treat Internet and computer game addiction in men, results of a multicenter randomized trial suggest.
In the study, Klaus Wölfling, PhD, and colleagues randomized 143 men (mean age, 26.2 years) with Internet addiction (IA), which was defined as a score greater than 13 on the Assessment of Internet and Computer Game Addiction Self-Report (AICA-S). The men were recruited at four outpatient clinics in Germany and Austria from Jan. 24, 2012, to June 14, 2017. The primary endpoint of remission, defined as a score of less than 7 on the AICA-S, was achieved by 50 patients (69.4%) in the treatment arm, compared with 17 patients (23.9%) of the wait-list control arm. The greatest declines in AICA-S scores were seen by midtreatment, but mean scores continued at similar levels through follow-up. The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry (2019 Jul 10. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1676).
Dr. Wölfling and colleagues chose to limit the scope of the study to male participants because they represent most of those affected by IA; however, the authors admitted this limits the results’ generalizability. They also noted that many of the patients were ambivalent toward treatment, which is a core characteristic of patients affected by IA. Recruitment was slow, so the investigators had to evaluate a smaller number of participants than planned, although they felt their analyses were still statistically powerful enough to detect difference in endpoints. The authors also noted that, although they tried to control for comorbidities, which are often associated with IA, they had to define exclusion criteria for certain conditions such as major depression and some personality disorders.
IA was included in the DSM-5 in 2013 as a condition warranting further research, the authors of this study noted. More recently, it was “introduced as a new diagnosis in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision, in the section Disorders Due to Substance Use or Addictive Behaviors.”