Mindfulness-based interventions: Potentials for management of internet gaming disorder

Abstract

Mindfulness-based interventions have been found to be efficacious among cases with substance addiction. Its role in Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has not been extensively studied. Prisma model approach was used to search for relevant articles from January 2009 to March 2021, to synthesize the role of empirical findings with mindfulness-based interventions to address various psychological domains in IGD. Eighteen relevant papers were included to understand the role of mindfulness-based interventions in IGD. Studies revealed the role of mindfulness-based interventions in the promotion of emotional regulation, metacognitive awareness, adaptive coping/cognition, reducing impulsivity, and craving for playing games. Studies also reveal neuro-biological basis for the effect of these interventions among users with IGD. Mindfulness-based interventions are potentially useful in IGD. It implicates the need to understand the empirical linkages within the root factors for a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of mindfulness-based treatment in IGD.

Keywords

• internet gaming disorder
• mindfulness
• treatment