“In this ‘downward spiral’ association, the question of cause and effect can become blurry,” said Weber, director of UCSB’s Brain Imaging Center and a professor of communication and psychological and brain sciences.
Falcione and Weber’s findings could help doctors and mental health professionals develop better treatment options as they drill down on root causes.
“Based on our research, the best step towards treatment would be to start at the psychopathology level — identify the underlying issues,” Falcione said. “That’s a big takeaway.”
“Many parents think that simply taking away video games will solve the problem,” she added. “But without addressing what’s really going on, parents will not only be contending with their child’s withdrawal symptoms, their child may relapse into more addictive gaming behaviors or find another outlet.”
Worldwide, gaming disorder presents among roughly 3% of all gamers, with prevalence numbers varying depending on disorder definition, game genre, player sample and location.