Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

Interconnection between Gambling Addiction (GD) and Internet Gaming Addiction (IGD) and Comorbid Psychopathology Risk and Time Sequence of the Conditions

Tetiana Zinchenko*

It is well known that people with gambling addiction and with internet gaming disorders both suffer from other mental disorders too. The current work represents and analyzes interconnection, temporal sequence and risk of development of other mental disorders in individuals with GD and IGD.

Electronic literary search was conducted using PubMed, PsychINFO, Science Direct, Web of Science и Google Scholar.

Object - analysis of existing studies finds a high degree of correlation between IGD and anxiety 92%, with depression 89%, with ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 85%, with social phobia/anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms 75%. In the gambling addiction case, the highest comorbidity was found with psychoactive substance use up to 57.5%; with depression 23% - 40%; with anxiety disorder 37.4-60% of players. Thus, psychoactive substance dependence is 5-6 times higher and the incidence of anxiety and mood disorders is 3 times higher in individuals with GD compared to the General population. It has been shown from these studies that comorbid psychopathology joined in more than half of the cases after a person started playing and was associated with problems that arose as a result of behavioral addiction. At abandonment from a game and restore healthy vital activity severity of symptoms decreased. In other studies, it is difficult to establish a temporal sequence.

Gambling addiction can form in individuals without mental disorders, as well as in people with mental disorders at the subclinical or clinical level. But as a result, new mental disorders are added, or existing ones are aggravated. The question is not in any particularly vulnerable group of people, but in the modern products of the gaming industry, which themselves are the main risk factor for GD and IGD development and their accompanying psychopathology.

Published Date: 2020-09-07; Received Date: 2020-05-02