Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 16, 2021; 9(14): 3287-3293
Published online May 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i14.3287
Positive psychological intervention for anxiety, depression and coping in subjects addicted to online games
Xiu-Jun Gao, Ji-Jun Sun, Mei Xiang
Xiu-Jun Gao, Ji-Jun Sun, Department of Psychiatry, Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310013, Zhejiang Province, China
Mei Xiang, Department of Elderly Psychiatry, Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310013, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Gao XJ conceived and designed the study; Sun JJ wrote the manuscript; Xiang M collected the data and performed the statistical analyses; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by The Medical and Health Science and Technology Foundation of Zhejiang, No. 2020363968.
Institutional review board statement: The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital.
Informed consent statement: All patients read and signed the informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.
Data sharing statement: Data and materials are available with the authors and will be available upon request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ji-Jun Sun, FACP, PhD, Doctor, Department of Psychiatry, Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital, No. 305 Tianmushan Road, Hangzhou 310013, Zhejiang Province, China. sjjzcy113@126.com
Received: December 24, 2020
Peer-review started: December 24, 2020
First decision: January 24, 2021
Revised: February 5, 2021
Accepted: March 10, 2021
Article in press: March 10, 2021
Published online: May 16, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Addiction to online games is not uncommon. The patients usually refuse to take medications and present with affective symptoms such as anxiety, depression and negative coping styles. Psychological intervention based on positive psychology is a promising treatment for such patients.

AIM

To evaluate the effect of positive psychological intervention on anxiety, depression and coping in people addicted to online games.

METHODS

This self-controlled study included 89 people addicted to online games, who received treatment at Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital, Hangzhou, China in 2019. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale and Trait Coping Style Questionnaire were administered to evaluate the anxiety, depression and coping style among these people. Psychological intervention based on positive psychology was provided for 6 wk followed by another evaluation. The results were compared against those from the previous evaluation.

RESULTS

After 6 wk of psychological intervention, 89 people achieved a significant improvement in the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Hamilton Depression Scale-24 scales. The score for positive coping style in Trait Coping Style Questionnaire was significantly improved, while that of the negative coping style decreased significantly (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Psychological intervention based on positive psychology alleviated affective symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, in subjects addicted to online games. Psychological intervention corrected negative coping style, thereby improving mental health.

Keywords: Online game addiction, Positive psychology, Anxiety, Depression, Coping style, Psychological intervention

Core Tip: For patients with addiction to online games who present with affective symptoms such as anxiety, depression and negative coping styles, psychological intervention based on positive psychology is an effective treatment modality to alleviate affective symptoms. Moreover, negative coping styles could also be corrected by psychological intervention. Therefore, psychological intervention is a promising choice for the treatment of such patients with addiction to online games, which may bring great benefits and hope to both the patients themselves and their families. Psychological intervention is worthy of popularization in clinical practice.