Gaming disorder: Neural mechanisms and ongoing debates

Zheng, Yong-Bo and Zhang, Sheng-Nan and Tang, Hua-Da and Wang, San-Wang and Lin, Xiao and Bao, Yan-Ping and Wang, Yu-Mei and Griffiths, Mark D. and Sun, Jie and Han, Ying and Lu, Lin (2025) Gaming disorder: Neural mechanisms and ongoing debates. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL ADDICTIONS, 14 (1). pp. 55-78. ISSN 2062-5871 (print); 2063-5303 (online)

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Abstract

Background and aims The inclusion of gaming disorder as a new diagnosis in the 11th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) has caused ongoing debate. This review aimed to summarise the potential neural mechanisms of gaming disorder and provide additional evidence for this debate. Methods We conducted a comprehensive literature review of gaming disorder, focusing on studies that investigated its clinical characteristics and neurobiological mechanisms. Based on this evidence, we further discuss gaming disorder as a psychiatric disorder. Results The present review demonstrated that the brain regions involved in gaming disorder are related to executive functioning (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), reward systems (e.g., striatum and orbitofrontal cortex), and emotional regulation (e.g., insula and amygdala). Despite the inclusion of gaming disorder in the ICD-11, the debate remains on the benefits and harms of classifying it as a mental health disorder. Opponents argue that the current manifestations that support gaming disorder as a psychiatric disorder remain inadequate, it could cause moral panic among healthy gamers, and that the label of gaming disorder is stigmatising. Discussion Evidence suggests that gaming disorder shares similar neurobiological alterations with other types of behavioural and substance-related addictions, which further supports gaming disorder as a behavioural addiction. Ongoing debates on whether gaming disorder is a psychiatric disorder push for further exploring the nature of gaming disorder and resolving this dilemma in the field.

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