The impact of comorbid impulsive/compulsive disorders in problematic Internet use

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Abstract

Background and aims

Problematic Internet use (PIU) is commonplace but is not yet recognized as a formal mental disorder. Excessive Internet use could result from other conditions such as gambling disorder. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of impulsive–compulsive comorbidities on the presentation of PIU, defined using Young’s Diagnostic Questionnaire.

Methods

A total of 123 adults aged 18–29 years were recruited using media advertisements, and attended the research center for a detailed psychiatric assessment, including interviews, completion of questionnaires, and neuropsychological testing. Participants were classified into three groups: PIU with no comorbid impulsive/compulsive disorders ( n = 18), PIU with one or more comorbid impulsive/compulsive disorders ( n = 37), and healthy controls who did not have any mental health diagnoses ( n = 67). Differences between the three groups were characterized in terms of demographic, clinical, and cognitive variables. Effect sizes for overall effects of group were also reported.

Results

The three groups did not significantly differ on age, gender, levels of education, nicotine consumption, or alcohol use (small effect sizes). Quality of life was significantly impaired in PIU irrespective of whether or not individuals had comorbid impulsive/compulsive disorders (large effect size). However, impaired response inhibition and decision-making were only identified in PIU with impulsive/compulsive comorbidities (medium effect sizes).

Discussion and conclusions

Most people with PIU will have one or more other impulsive/compulsive disorders, but PIU can occur without such comorbidities and still present with impaired quality of life. Response inhibition and decision-making appear to be disproportionately impacted in the case of PIU comorbid with other impulsive/compulsive conditions, which may account for some of the inconsistencies in the existing literature. Large scale international collaborations are required to validate PIU and further assess its clinical, cognitive, and biological sequelae.

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Most cited references 40

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The World Health Organization Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS): a short screening scale for use in the general population.

Ronald C Kessler, Lenard Adler, Minnie Ames … (2005)

A self-report screening scale of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the World Health Organization (WHO) Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) was developed in conjunction with revision of the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). The current report presents data on concordance of the ASRS and of a short-form ASRS screener with blind clinical diagnoses in a community sample. The ASRS includes 18 questions about frequency of recent DSM-IV Criterion A symptoms of adult ADHD. The ASRS screener consists of six out of these 18 questions that were selected based on stepwise logistic regression to optimize concordance with the clinical classification. ASRS responses were compared to blind clinical ratings of DSM-IV adult ADHD in a sample of 154 respondents who previously participated in the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), oversampling those who reported childhood ADHD and adult persistence. Each ASRS symptom measure was significantly related to the comparable clinical symptom rating, but varied substantially in concordance (Cohen's kappa in the range 0.16-0.81). Optimal scoring to predict clinical syndrome classifications was to sum unweighted dichotomous responses across all 18 ASRS questions. However, because of the wide variation in symptom-level concordance, the unweighted six-question ASRS screener outperformed the unweighted 18-question ASRS in sensitivity (68.7% v. 56.3%), specificity (99.5% v. 98.3%), total classification accuracy (97.9% v. 96.2%), and kappa (0.76 v. 0.58). Clinical calibration in larger samples might show that a weighted version of the 18-question ASRS outperforms the six-question ASRS screener. Until that time, however, the unweighted screener should be preferred to the full ASRS, both in community surveys and in clinical outreach and case-finding initiatives.

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Medial frontal cortex mediates perceptual attentional set shifting in the rat.

Jennifer M. Birrell, Verity J Brown (2000)

If rodents do not display the behavioral complexity that is subserved in primates by prefrontal cortex, then evolution of prefrontal cortex in the rat should be doubted. Primate prefrontal cortex has been shown to mediate shifts in attention between perceptual dimensions of complex stimuli. This study examined the possibility that medial frontal cortex of the rat is involved in the shifting of perceptual attentional set. We trained rats to perform an attentional set-shifting task that is formally the same as a task used in monkeys and humans. Rats were trained to dig in bowls for a food reward. The bowls were presented in pairs, only one of which was baited. The rat had to select the bowl in which to dig by its odor, the medium that filled the bowl, or the texture that covered its surface. In a single session, rats performed a series of discriminations, including reversals, an intradimensional shift, and an extradimensional shift. Bilateral lesions by injection of ibotenic acid in medial frontal cortex resulted in impairment in neither initial acquisition nor reversal learning. We report here the same selective impairment in shifting of attentional set in the rat as seen in primates with lesions of prefrontal cortex. We conclude that medial frontal cortex of the rat has functional similarity to primate lateral prefrontal cortex.

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Internet addiction or excessive internet use.

Aviv Weinstein, Michel Lejoyeux (2010)

Problematic Internet addiction or excessive Internet use is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges, or behaviors regarding computer use and Internet access that lead to impairment or distress. Currently, there is no recognition of internet addiction within the spectrum of addictive disorders and, therefore, no corresponding diagnosis. It has, however, been proposed for inclusion in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM). To review the literature on Internet addiction over the topics of diagnosis, phenomenology, epidemiology, and treatment. Review of published literature between 2000-2009 in Medline and PubMed using the term "internet addiction. Surveys in the United States and Europe have indicated prevalence rate between 1.5% and 8.2%, although the diagnostic criteria and assessment questionnaires used for diagnosis vary between countries. Cross-sectional studies on samples of patients report high comorbidity of Internet addiction with psychiatric disorders, especially affective disorders (including depression), anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Several factors are predictive of problematic Internet use, including personality traits, parenting and familial factors, alcohol use, and social anxiety. Although Internet-addicted individuals have difficulty suppressing their excessive online behaviors in real life, little is known about the patho-physiological and cognitive mechanisms responsible for Internet addiction. Due to the lack of methodologically adequate research, it is currently impossible to recommend any evidence-based treatment of Internet addiction.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (pmc): jba

Journal ID (publisher-id): 2006

Title: Journal of Behavioral Addictions

Abbreviated Title: J Behav Addict

Publisher: Akadémiai Kiadó (Budapest )

ISSN (Print): 2062-5871

ISSN (Electronic): 2063-5303

Publication date (Electronic, epub): 15 May 2018

Publication date (Print, ppub): June 2018

Volume: 7

Issue: 2

Pages: 269-275

Affiliations

[ ¹ ]Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge , Cambridge, UK

[ ² ] Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust , Cambridge, UK

[ ³ ]Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago , Chicago, IL, USA

Author notes

[* ]Corresponding author: Dr. Samuel R. Chamberlain, MD, PhD; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Box 189 Level E4, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK; E-mail: src33@ 123456cam.ac.uk

Article

DOI: 10.1556/2006.7.2018.30

SO-VID: 9d0f1aca-5b9e-4fee-b07b-ea0c5e551df4

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes – if any – are indicated.

History

Date received : 06 November 2017

Date revision received : 21 March 2018

Date accepted : 25 March 2018

Page count

Figures: 0, Tables: 1, Equations: 0, References: 35, Pages: 7

Funding

Funding sources: This research was supported by a grant from the National Center for Responsible Gaming to Dr. JEG and by a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellowship Grant to Dr. SRC (reference no.: 110049/Z/15/Z). Dr. KI’s research is supported by Health Education East of England Higher Training Special interest sessions. This article is based on work from COST Action (CA16207), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). The authors would like to thank Dr. Naomi Fineberg for providing feedback on a draft version of this manuscript, undertaken as part of the COST Action Network.

The impact of comorbid impulsive/compulsive disorders in problematic Internet use

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Abstract

Background and aims

Methods

Results

Discussion and conclusions

Related collections

Journal of Behavioral Addictions

Most cited references 40

The World Health Organization Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS): a short screening scale for use in the general population.

Medial frontal cortex mediates perceptual attentional set shifting in the rat.

Internet addiction or excessive internet use.

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