A new psychological intervention designed specifically for internet gaming disorder has shown promising results among college students, offering evidence that mindfulness and cognitive therapy may help people regain control over gaming urges without requiring medication or intensive clinical treatment. Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea developed the program, known as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Gaming, or MBCT-G, to address a growing behavioral health concern affecting young adults worldwide.
The study was led by Professor Anderson Sungmin Yoon and Minah Kim of Sungkyunkwan University under the supervision of Willem Kuyken, director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Their work focuses on internet gaming disorder, a condition characterized by persistent and excessive gaming that interferes with education, employment, relationships, sleep, and other areas of daily life. Although gaming is a common form of entertainment, the disorder involves a loss of behavioral control, increasing priority given to gaming, and continued play despite harmful consequences.
College students may be particularly vulnerable to problematic gaming. The transition to university often brings academic pressure, uncertainty about future careers, social challenges, and newfound independence from family supervision. For some students, gaming becomes an immediately accessible way to regulate stress or escape difficult emotions. Over time, however, this coping strategy can reinforce a cycle in which distress triggers gaming, gaming disrupts daily responsibilities, and those disruptions generate additional distress.
MBCT-G adapts Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, an established psychological treatment originally developed to prevent depressive relapse. The new program applies the same core principles to the thoughts, emotions, and impulses associated with gaming. Participants learn to observe an urge to play as a temporary mental and physical event rather than an instruction that must be followed. This process, often described in clinical psychology as decentering, creates psychological distance between an individual and the impulse to act.
The intervention also incorporates cognitive therapy techniques. Rather than attempting to suppress gaming-related thoughts, participants examine the assumptions and emotional reactions that accompany them. A student might learn to identify thoughts such as “gaming is the only thing that will make me feel better” or “I cannot tolerate this stress without playing,” and then evaluate whether those thoughts are accurate or useful. Mindfulness practice supports this process by training attention and emotional awareness, while cognitive restructuring encourages more flexible responses.
Forty-six college students considered to be at high risk for internet gaming disorder took part in the research. During the eight-week program, participants practiced mindfulness meditation, social skills, and self-care strategies. They were also encouraged to plan and complete alternative pleasurable activities, including exercise, social and recreational activities, and creative hobbies. This behavioral component was important because the program did not simply ask students to reduce gaming; it aimed to help them rebuild a more varied and rewarding daily routine.
According to the research team, students who completed MBCT-G experienced a meaningful reduction in symptoms associated with gaming addiction. They also reported lower levels of stress and anxiety. These findings suggest that the program may work through several connected pathways: improving awareness of automatic impulses, strengthening emotional regulation, reducing reliance on gaming as a coping mechanism, and increasing access to satisfying activities outside the gaming environment.
The most notable outcome was an improvement in self-control, defined in the study as the ability to resist or manage the urge to play without relying entirely on external restrictions. The effect remained visible one month after the intervention ended, indicating that the program may have produced skills that continued to influence behavior after the structured sessions were over. Sustained improvement is particularly important in behavioral treatments, where short-term reductions can disappear when formal support is withdrawn.
Professor Yoon said the findings provide promising evidence for a psychological intervention that could help college students and adolescents interrupt the cycle of impulsive gaming during challenging developmental periods. He also noted that MBCT-G could be suitable for college counseling centers and gaming addiction prevention services because its group-based format may allow clinicians to support multiple participants with fewer resources than one-to-one treatment. However, the researchers’ results should be interpreted as early evidence rather than definitive proof. The study involved a relatively small sample, and further research will be needed to determine how well the intervention performs in larger, more diverse populations and in controlled comparisons with other treatments.
The research was supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency as part of efforts to develop game-based digital therapeutics technology. Published in the journal Mindfulness, the study adds to a rapidly expanding field examining how psychological science can respond to technology-related behavioral problems. As gaming becomes increasingly embedded in social life, competition, and digital entertainment, interventions such as MBCT-G may offer a way to address harmful use while recognizing that the goal is not to eliminate gaming, but to restore balance, choice, and control.
Subject of Research: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Internet Gaming Disorder among college students.
Web References: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-026-02855-1
References: Yoon, Anderson Sungmin, Kim, Minah, and colleagues. Study published in Mindfulness. DOI: 10.1007/s12671-026-02855-1.
Keywords: Internet gaming disorder, gaming addiction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, MBCT-G, college students, behavioral addiction, self-control, stress, anxiety, cognitive therapy, digital therapeutics, mental health, mindfulness meditation
