Internet gaming disorder and gaming disorder in the context of seeking and not seeking treatment for video-gaming

Abstract

The aims of this study were to examine the relationship between Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and gaming disorder (GD) and the degree of concordance between treatment seeking for gaming and IGD/GD. One hundred gamers who sought treatment for their gaming were compared with one hundred gamers who never sought treatment and gamers who met IGD and/or GD criteria were compared with those who did not meet these criteria, regardless of their treatment-seeking status. These comparisons were made using semi-structured diagnostic interviews and self-report psychopathology and symptom measures. There was only a partial concordance between treatment seeking and IGD/GD because 61% of treatment-seeking gamers met the diagnostic criteria for IGD and 36% met the diagnostic criteria for GD. GD criteria were found to reflect a more intense, pathological pattern of gaming, associated with high rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and coping as the main reason for gaming. IGD criteria were found to refer to a broad, heterogeneous entity that encompasses a “spectrum” of gaming from risky/hazardous to pathological. These findings suggest that gamers may seek treatment for IGD/GD, a diagnostically subthreshold, risky gaming pattern (i.e., hazardous gaming) or for a gaming pattern that seems normal. A partial overlap between IGD and GD indicates that the two disorders as conceptualized by their respective criteria, should not be considered interchangeably. The relationship and extent of the conceptual overlap between ADHD and a gaming-related disorder, especially GD, merit further study.