Psychological Treatments for Video Game Adicction in Adolescents and Young Adults: a Systematic Review
- Autores: Sofía Payá López, José P. Espada, Mireia Orgilés, Alexandra Morales
- Localización: Revista española de drogodependencias, ISSN 0213-7615, Nº. 48, 3, 2023, págs. 39-58
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Video game addiction is a relevant problem, as it is linked to numerous psychosocial disorders. The objective of this work was to know the psychological treatments for the aforementioned addiction and to determine their effectiveness. A bibliographic search was carried out in 7 databases. 2,355 articles were obtained, of which 21 met the inclusion criteria. Participant characteristics, study design, risk of bias and quality of studies, method of diagnosis, type of intervention, and effects of interventions were examined. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been widely studied, finding significant decreases in the variables contemplated (reduction of symptoms and/or playing time) in most of the studies analyzed. However, the lack of rigor in the designs used and the associated biases make it impossible to place it in the category of well-established treatments according to the APA standards. However, there is promising experimental evidence that these interventions can achieve the postulated levels of efficacy. The same is true for treatments listed as other treatment approaches, even though these are still in an experimental phase. For this reason, future research needs to overcome the methodological limitations of the studies carried out to date.
