Some of the more serious ADHD symptoms are depression / withdrawal, socialization problems.
One study found that young people with both Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Internet gaming disorder experienced more severe ADHD symptoms than young people with ADHD who did not have Internet gaming disorder.
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between ADHD and Internet gaming disorder, a new category introduced in DSM-5 under “Emerging Measurements and Models”. To this end, investigators recruited 108 participants who were diagnosed with ADHD (mean age 11.7 ± 2.6 years, 96 males) and 147 normal controls (mean age 13.9 ± 3.0 years, 114 males). All participating Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Forms (IGDS9-SF) and Internet Addiction Test (IAT); Participants with ADHD were assessed for clinical severity using Clinical Global Impression-Severity Score (CGI-S) and Wechsler's Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). Parents of participants with ADHD also completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Connaught Parents Rating Scale-Revised: Short Form (CPRS-R: S). Finally, participants aged 11 to 18 completed Internet Use, Abuse, Reliance (UADI) to give investigators a qualitative assessment of Internet addiction.1
The results showed that participants in both ADHD and Internet gaming disorder experienced greater weakness and severity of ADHD symptoms, such as higher prevalence of internal symptoms, such as socialization and depression / withdrawal problems, and higher prevalence of deception and addiction levels. The results also support previous assumptions that suggest that ADHD patients have an increased risk of developing Internet gaming disorders, as these participants' IAT and IGDS9-SF scores were more than 2-fold above the cutoff and higher than 4. Fold high scores, respectively, over the cutoff.1
The investigators concluded, “Our findings may be helpful for physicians managing ADHD patients, providing advice for diagnostic evaluation, confirmation of high-risk patients and, ultimately, the definition of different phenotypes across broad categories.” [internet gaming disorder]With different therapeutic needs, useful for the right medicine. “1
References
1. Berloffa S, Salvati A, D'Acunto G, et al. Internet gaming disorder in children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Children (Basel). 2022; 9 (3): 428.
