A Typical Case Report: Internet Gaming Disorder Psychotherapy Treatment in Private Practice

Abstract

Background: Online or internet gaming disorder (IGD) is currently not recognized as a mental disorder in the actual Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), although it is an emerging disease. Non-substance-related addictions often have similarities with substance addictions. It is therefore important to have a good understanding of the client but also to have a good endurance. Due to the rise of e-sports, there is an anticipated and therefore possible trend to have many more patients with a non-substance addiction. There are many parallels, for instance tolerance, withdrawal and social problems, resulting from an increasing investment of time spent on the internet. Case presentation: To reduce possible inhibition in treating a patient with IGD, we present a case of a 19-year-old adolescent man who exhibited IGD and showed social problems associated with his addiction. Conclusions: This paper shows the importance and the effects of treating a non-substance addiction with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). After having successfully coped with an addiction, several shifts in addiction were often reported. In this case, no shifts were reported. The absence of such shifts makes our case a distinct and unique case. This is not a multimorbidity case, and that is the reason why we think this is an excellent example to show what we achieved, how we achieved it, and what we could establish. Of course, additional research and manuals are urgently needed.

Keywords: behavioral disorders; internet gaming disorder; non-substance-related disorders; non-substance-use disorders; psychotherapy.

Figure 1

Changes over time (8-month period). Note: own depiction.