The recognition of gaming disorder in China: a case series of 223 patients

Tianli Shao; Xinxin Chen; Shucai Huang; Zhenjiang Liao; Shuhong Lin; Jing Qi; Yi Cai; Qiuping Huang; Hongxian Shen

doi:10.7717/peerj.10827

The recognition of gaming disorder in China: a case series of 223 patients

PeerJ. 2021 Feb 4:9:e10827. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10827. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Tianli Shao^#^{1

2

3}, Xinxin Chen^#^{1

2}, Shucai Huang⁴, Zhenjiang Liao^{1

2}, Shuhong Lin^{1

2}, Jing Qi⁵, Yi Cai³, Qiuping Huang^{1

2}, Hongxian Shen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and Department of Psychiatry, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
² Institute of Mental Health of Central South University, Chinese National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hunan Medical Center for Mental Health, Changsha, Hunan, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Comorbid Somatic Diseases, Kangning Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, the Fourth People's Hospital of Wuhu, Wuhu, Anhui, China.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Brain Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, Hunan, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) was listed in the appendix of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) as a condition requiring further study in 2013, and gaming disorder (GD) was considered a mental disorder and listed in the 11th International Classification of Diseases Manual (ICD-11) in 2018. The study aims to obtain preliminary knowledge of the recognition of GD in China.

Methods: A total of 223 Chinese patients who met both the ICD-11 and DSM-5 criteria for GD participated in the study, and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect demographic information, gaming use characteristics, and previous diagnoses.

Results: The average age of patients with GD was 20.5 years, and 71.3% were male. Most patients were diagnosed with emotion-related disorders at their first psychiatric visit: mood disorders (59.2%), bipolar affective disorder (18.4%), depressive episode (12.6%), and anxiety disorder (4.9%). Among the adolescent patients with a first diagnosis of mood disorders, 71.2% and 33.3% were diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and personality disorders, respectively, at subsequent visits. Overall, after the first visit, the most common diagnosis was bipolar affective disorder (61.0%), followed by personality disorders (34.1%), mood disorders (17.0%), depressive episode (17.0%), and other disorders. Only three patients had Internet overuse.

Conclusion: The identification rate of GD is extremely low in routine psychiatric clinical practice in China. Most patients with GD were previously misdiagnosed with emotion-related disorders. Psychiatrists should be trained to improve their ability to recognize and manage GD.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Gaming disorder; Patients; Recognition.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81971249), National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2015CB553504) and National Research Program of China (No. 2016YFC0800908-Z02). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.