Article (Scientific journals)
Characteristics and treatment response of self-identified problematic Internet users in a behavioral addiction outpatient clinic.
Thorens, Gabriel; Achab, Sophia; Billieux, Joël et al.
2014In Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3 (1), p. 78-81
Peer reviewed
 

Files


Full Text
Thorens_2014_JBA.pdf
Publisher postprint (54.11 kB)
Download

All documents in ORBilu are protected by a user license.

Send to



Details



Keywords :
Internet; addiction; gaming; problematic; usage
Abstract :
[en] AIMS: Controversies remain about the validity of the diagnosis of problematic Internet use. This might be due in part to the lack of longitudinal naturalistic studies that have followed a cohort of patients who self-identify as having Internet-related problems. METHODS: This retrospective study included 57 patients who consulted the Geneva Addiction Outpatient Clinic from January 1, 2007, to January 1, 2010. Patients underwent an initial clinical psychiatric evaluation that included collection of data on socio-demographics, method of referral, specific Internet usage, psychiatric diagnosis, and Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) scores. Treatment consisted of individual psychotherapeutic sessions. RESULTS: Of these patients, 98% were male and 37% were 18 years or younger. Most patients were online gamers (46% playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games). The mean IAT score was 52.9 (range 20-90). Sixty-eight percent of patients had a co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis, with social phobia being the most prevalent (17.8%). Patients who remained in treatment (dropout rate 24%) showed an overall improvement of symptoms: 38.6% showed significant or average improvement on their CGI score, 26.3% showed minimal improvement, and 14% showed no change. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the hypothesis that there are specific types of Internet use, with online gaming mainly affecting young male patients. As Internet addiction is not yet an official diagnosis, better instruments are needed to screen patients and to avoid false-negative and false-positive diagnoses. Successful care should integrate the treatment of co-morbid symptoms and involve families and relatives in the therapeutic process.
Disciplines :
Treatment & clinical psychology
Author, co-author :
Thorens, Gabriel
Achab, Sophia
Billieux, Joël ;  University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Khazaal, Yasser
Khan, Riaz
Pivin, Edward
Gupta, Vishal
Zullino, Daniel
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Characteristics and treatment response of self-identified problematic Internet users in a behavioral addiction outpatient clinic.
Publication date :
2014
Journal title :
Journal of Behavioral Addictions
ISSN :
2062-5871
Volume :
3
Issue :
1
Pages :
78-81
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Available on ORBilu :
since 06 February 2017

Statistics


Number of views
73 (1 by Unilu)
Number of downloads
87 (0 by Unilu)

Scopus citations®
 
55
Scopus citations®
without self-citations
40
WoS citations
 
40

Bibliography


Similar publications



Contact ORBilu