A Clinical Study of Internet Gaming Disorder in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract

Purpose- The severity of different IGD symptoms criteria has not been explored much. The study describes the phenomenology of IGD in Adolescents with comorbid psychiatric disorders attending child and adolescent psychiatry OPD. Methods- Adolescents aged 13-16 years, who have attended child and adolescent Psychiatry OPD, of a tertiary care teaching hospital for psychiatric disorders, with a history of gaming and fulfilled criteria as per DSM-5 for IGD have been included. All the subjects have then assessed using semi-structured proforma, IGDS and K-SADS-PL.Results- In the study Sample of 46 Adolescents most common IGDS criteria was "Conflict" and least common criterion was "Tolerance". IGDS mean Score of "Conflict" was the highest while it was the least for "Displacement". "Escape “and "Deception" were significantly higher for females. "Displacement" significantly higher for Urban domicile and Online mode of gaming. "Persistence" was significantly higher for those who were gaming on personal devices and playing MMORPGs. Psychiatric disorders associated with IGD were ODD (46.66%), Dissociative disorder (24.44%), ADHD (17.77%) and Depressive disorder (11.11%). Phenomenology of IGD was comparable across all psychiatric comorbidities except subjects with dissociative disorders, who had significantly higher scores for "Escape" than ADHD and Depression. Also, subjects with ODD had significantly higher scores for "Displacement" than the subjects with Dissociative disorder in terms of IGDS scores. Conclusion: Significant differences in the severity of DSM-5-IGD symptoms criteria is found in terms of gender, domicile, gaming genre (MMORPGs), accessibility of smartphones, online/offline modes of gaming and the associated psychiatric comorbidity.