Higher levels of (Internet) Gaming Disorder symptoms according to the WHO and APA frameworks associate with lower striatal volume.
Background and aims
Growing concerns about the addictive nature of Internet and computer games led to the preliminary recognition of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) as an emerging disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the official recognition of Gaming Disorder (GD) as a new diagnosis by the World Health Organization (WHO). While the definition of clear diagnostic criteria for (I)GD represents an important step for diagnosis and treatment of the disorder, potential neurobiological correlates of the criteria remain to be explored.


Methods
The present study employed a dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) approach to determine associations between (I)GD symptom-load according to the APA and WHO diagnostic frameworks and brain structure in a comparably large sample of n = 82 healthy subjects.


Results
Higher symptom-load on both, the APA and WHO diagnostic frameworks convergently associated with lower volumes of the striatum.


Discussion
The results from this exploratory study provide the first initial evidence for a neurobiological foundation of the proposed diagnostic criteria for (I)GD according to both diagnostic classification systems and suggest that the transition from non-disordered to disordered gaming may be accompanied by progressive neuroplastic changes in the striatum, thus resembling progressive changes in other addictive disorders.


Conclusions
The proposed (I)GD criteria in both diagnostic systems were associated with neurostructural alterations in the striatum, suggesting an association with progressive changes in the motivational systems of the brain.
['Zhou|Xinqi|X|', 'Wu|Renjing|R|', 'Liu|Congcong|C|', 'Kou|Juan|J|', 'Chen|Yuanshu|Y|', 'Pontes|Halley M|HM|', 'Yao|Dezhong|D|', 'Kendrick|Keith M|KM|', 'Becker|Benjamin|B|0000-0002-9014-9671', 'Montag|Christian|C|0000-0001-8112-0837']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D003342:Corpus Striatum D006801:Humans D000082424:Internet Addiction Disorder D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D012955:Societies, Medical D014944:World Health Organization D055815:Young Adult
internet gaming disorder striatum DSM-5 ICD-11 gray matter