ArticlePsychiatry investigation2023
A Systematic Review of Pharmacological Treatments for Internet Gaming Disorder.
Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect and neural changes underlying mindfulness meditation training in patients with comorbid internet gaming disorder and depression: A randomized clinical trial.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Pharmacotherapy for online behavioral addictions: a systematic review.Future science OA · 2026Review
- Off-Label Medications and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) in the Treatment of Internet Gaming Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Review
- Peer bullying victimisation and depressive symptoms as serial mediators between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and internet gaming disorder among Chinese adolescents: A three-wave longitudinal study.General psychiatry · 2026Article
- Serum Cocaine- and Amphetamine-Regulated Transcript Levels and Cooperativeness in Adolescents With Internet Gaming Disorder.Psychiatry investigation · 2025Article
- Treatment of Gaming Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025Article
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy-Game: An Ironic Way to Treat Internet Gaming Disorder.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Internet gaming disorder associated with depression among Thai medical students: A university-based cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2025Article
- A Case Report of Internet Gaming Disorder Treated With Bupropion and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.Cureus · 2024Article
- Internet Gaming Disorder and Sleep Quality among Jordanian University Students: A Cross-sectional Study.Clinical practice and epidemiology in mental health : CP & EMH · 2024Article
- Resting-state EEG microstate analysis of internet gaming disorder and alcohol use disorder.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveInternet gaming disorder (IGD) is an increasingly common behavioral addiction, with an estimated global prevalence of 3%. A variety of pharmacological treatments have been used to treat IGD, yet no review to date has synthesized clinical trials evaluating their efficacy. This systematic review therefore synthesized the literature reporting on clinical trials of pharmacological treatments for IGD.
methodsWe reviewed articles from MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed Central, CINAHL, and PsycINFO that were published as of March of 2022. A total of 828 articles were retrieved for review and 12 articles were included, reporting on a total of 724 participants.
resultsMost participants were male (98.6%), and all were currently living in South Korea. The most common drugs used to treat IGD were bupropion, methylphenidate, and a range of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The Young Internet Addiction Scale was the most frequently used to measure gaming-related outcomes. All studies reported reduced symptoms of IGD from pre- to post-treatment. Across all clinical trials, IGD symptom reductions following the administration of pharmacological treatments ranged from 15.4% to 51.4%. A risk of bias assessment indicated that only four studies had a low risk of bias.
conclusionPreliminary results suggest that a wide array of pharmacological interventions may be efficacious in the treatment of IGD. Future studies using double-blind randomized controlled trial designs, recruiting larger and more representative samples, and controlling for psychiatric comorbidities are needed to better inform understanding of pharmacological treatments for IGD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.