The study, led by Clément Vansteene of Université Paris Cité and Hôpital Sainte-Anne together with colleagues including Flinders University’s Professor Zsolt Demetrovics and Dr Andrea Czakó, is described as one of the most comprehensive reviews of behavioural addictions ever conducted. Rather than running a new experiment, the team performed what researchers call a multiple systematic review analysis, synthesising almost 250 existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. These are the highest tiers of evidence in medical research, because they aggregate findings from many independent studies to reveal patterns that no single trial could detect on its own.

The methodological logic of the paper is elegant in its simplicity. The researchers used gambling disorder, one of the most extensively studied behavioural addictions and the only non-substance addiction recognised in the DSM-5 alongside gaming disorder, as a benchmark. They then compared gambling disorder with alcohol use disorder and with six commonly discussed behavioural addictions. Across 75 factors linked to addiction, spanning mental health, personality traits, emotional regulation, cognition and brain function, they assessed how closely each condition resembled the benchmark. The result was striking: gaming disorder was found to be 98.9 percent similar to gambling disorder, sharing many of the same risk factors, warning signs and underlying characteristics.

That figure is remarkable because gambling disorder has long served as the scientific prototype of a behavioural addiction. It produces tolerance, withdrawal-like distress, preoccupation, loss of control and continued engagement despite harm, the same core features that define substance use disorders. If gaming disorder matches that profile almost perfectly, the implication is that the neural and psychological machinery of addiction does not require a chemical substance at all. Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and binge eating disorder also showed a high degree of overlap with gambling disorder, placing them close behind gaming in the similarity ranking.

The findings arrive at a moment when the clinical world is already moving in this direction. The World Health Organization included gaming disorder in the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases, and binge eating disorder has been formally recognised as an eating disorder in its own right. What this new analysis adds is a comparative evidence base: a systematic demonstration that these conditions are not merely superficially similar to addiction but appear to converge on the same risk architecture, from impulsivity and emotional dysregulation to comorbid mood and anxiety problems.

Professor Demetrovics, Matthew Flinders Professor in Mental Health and Wellbeing and Director of Flinders’ Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, argues that the research highlights a need to look beyond substances when thinking about addiction. People often associate addiction with alcohol or drugs, he says, but the findings show that certain behaviours can share many of the same underlying characteristics. In his words, addiction is not defined by a substance alone; in some cases, behaviours can become compulsive, difficult to control and continue despite causing harm.

That point carries real weight for public health. Behaviours such as gaming, eating, shopping and working are woven into everyday life, which makes it genuinely difficult to tell when a normal pattern has tipped into something unhealthy. A person losing sleep and damaging relationships because they cannot stop gaming, someone repeatedly binge eating despite serious health consequences, a shopper spending beyond their means, or an individual whose sexual behaviour begins to erode their wellbeing may not recognise the pattern as an addiction at all. Demetrovics notes that many people who experience these problems may not identify them as potential addictions, and as a result may not seek help until the effects on their health, relationships, finances or daily life become severe.

Dr Czakó, Senior Research Fellow in Psychology at Flinders, emphasises the implications for individuals, families and health professionals. Many people struggle with behaviours they feel ashamed of, or simply do not recognise as a potential addiction, she says, and understanding that these difficulties may share common underlying mechanisms can help people seek support earlier and help clinicians respond more effectively. The researchers argue that better recognition of behavioural addictions could reduce stigma, improve access to care and allow intervention before significant harm occurs, a framing that shifts the conversation from moral failing to treatable condition.

The study was published in European Psychiatry under the title ‘Concordance between gambling disorder, alcohol use disorder, and other behavioural addictions provides evidence for a comprehensive approach to addictive behaviours: A multiple systematic review analysis’, with a team spanning Université Paris Cité, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Flinders University, Semmelweis University, the University of Gibraltar and Aga Khan University. Its authors hope the evidence will encourage a comprehensive approach to addictive behaviours, one in which clinicians assess the full spectrum of compulsive patterns rather than treating substance and behavioural problems as separate universes. For the millions of people quietly wrestling with behaviours that feel out of control, the message is that loss of control is a recognised medical phenomenon, and that open conversations, earlier identification and appropriate support are far more achievable when the science acknowledges what they are experiencing.

Subject of Research: Behavioural addictions and their similarity to gambling and substance use disorders

Article Title: From binge eating to gaming: when everyday behaviors become addictions

Article References: From binge eating to gaming: when everyday behaviors become addictions. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: behavioural addiction, gaming disorder, gambling disorder, binge eating disorder, compulsive sexual behaviour, systematic review, European Psychiatry, mental health, loss of control, stigma, Flinders University, addiction research

The study, led by Sergio Hidalgo-Fuentes of the Universitat de València together with Isabel Martínez-Álvarez and Elisa González-Pérez of the Universidad a Distancia de Madrid, pooled data from 14 studies encompassing 15 independent samples and a remarkable 79,760 participants. Following PRISMA guidelines and registered in PROSPERO, the researchers systematically searched PsycINFO, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science in February 2026. Their central finding: resilience and IGD symptomatology show a statistically significant, moderately negative correlation of r = −.24 (95% CI [−.29, −.20]). In plain terms, individuals who report higher resilience consistently report fewer symptoms of problematic gaming—and every single study included in the analysis reported a negative correlation, with effect sizes ranging from −.11 to −.46.

Resilience, broadly defined as the capacity to maintain or regain psychological equilibrium in the face of adversity, has long been recognized as a protective factor against addictive behaviours ranging from substance abuse to problematic internet use. But the construct itself is anything but simple. The literature distinguishes three complementary perspectives: resilience as a relatively stable personality trait marked by perseverance, emotional stability, and optimism; resilience as a dynamic, context-dependent process emerging from ongoing person–environment interactions; and resilience as a successful outcome despite significant adversity. These conceptual differences matter, because they shape how resilience is measured—and, as this meta-analysis reveals, how it is measured turns out to influence the size of its apparent relationship with IGD.

The measurement question proved to be the study’s most striking methodological insight. Among all the moderating variables examined, only the resilience assessment instrument significantly influenced the strength of the association, explaining 56.23% of the between-study variance. Instruments such as the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale conceptualize resilience as a multidimensional trait reflecting personal competence and stress tolerance, while the Brief Resilience Scale focuses narrowly on the ability to “bounce back” from stressful situations. Because these tools capture partially distinct facets of the construct, the authors argue, they should not be treated as interchangeable—a caution with real consequences for how future studies of gaming disorder are designed and compared.

The theoretical framework underlying the findings is the I-PACE model—Interaction of Person–Affect–Cognition–Execution—one of the most influential accounts of behavioural addictions. According to this model, technology-related disorders arise from the interplay of personal vulnerabilities, dysfunctional affective states, biased cognitive processes, and deficits in executive functioning. Resilience, on this view, operates as a transversal personal resource: it buffers the emotional impact of stress, moderates gaming-related expectations of escape and reward, and supports inhibitory control, thereby reducing the likelihood that gaming becomes a vehicle for emotional regulation. This is especially pertinent for adolescents, whose heightened neuropsychological sensitivity to immediate rewards and immature inhibitory control help explain their overrepresentation in IGD epidemiology.

Complementary frameworks reinforce the same picture. The Self-Medication Hypothesis proposes that addictive behaviours emerge as maladaptive strategies for regulating psychological distress; from this angle, individuals with lower resilience may turn to gaming precisely because they lack more adaptive coping resources. Neuroscientific work by Ersche and colleagues suggests that dysfunction in self-regulation circuitry may underlie vulnerability to addiction, with resilient individuals partially compensating for reduced inhibitory control. Consistent with these accounts, prior studies have linked low resilience not only to greater IGD risk but also to more severe depression, stress, and difficulties with emotional regulation among young people.

The meta-analysis was not without statistical caveats. Heterogeneity was substantial—Cochran’s Q reached 144.09 with an I² of 95.20%—indicating that while the direction of the association was universal, its magnitude varied widely across studies. The prediction interval of −.40 to −.07 suggests future studies could observe effects anywhere in that range. Yet sensitivity analyses confirmed robustness: a leave-one-out procedure showed pooled estimates fluctuating only between r = −.24 and r = −.25 regardless of which study was excluded. Publication bias was also assessed through funnel plots, Egger’s regression test, and the Begg and Mazumdar rank correlation test; despite slight visual asymmetry, both statistical tests were non-significant, allowing the authors to reasonably dismiss publication bias.

The evidence base itself has clear demographic contours. Most included studies were conducted in Asia (57.14%), followed by Middle Eastern countries (28.57%) and Europe (14.29%), with all employing cross-sectional designs published between 2019 and 2025. Participants were predominantly adolescents and young adults, with mean ages ranging from 12.84 to 25.57 years, and sample sizes spanning from 71 to an extraordinary 50,855 individuals. The Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short Form dominated IGD assessment. Older adults, clinical populations, and non-student gamers remain markedly underrepresented, and the authors stress that the pooled estimate should be read as an average association rather than a uniform effect across all populations. Language restrictions to English and Spanish and exclusive reliance on self-report measures—which may inflate associations through shared method variance and social desirability—add further interpretive caution.

Perhaps the most important limitation is the field’s oldest problem: correlation is not causation. Because every included study was cross-sectional, the meta-analysis cannot determine whether low resilience drives gaming disorder, whether persistent gaming erodes resilience through sleep disruption, social withdrawal, and disengagement from adaptive activities, or whether both dynamics operate simultaneously. The authors call explicitly for longitudinal and experimental research to clarify temporal ordering and to test whether resilience-enhancing interventions actually reduce IGD symptoms. Prior meta-analytic evidence shows resilience interventions can improve mental health and adaptive coping among students, but whether those benefits translate into reduced problematic gaming remains an open question.

Even with those constraints, the practical implications are significant. Effects of this magnitude are typical for psychological risk and protective factors and can be meaningfully consequential at the population level. The findings argue for embedding resilience-building strategies—emotion regulation training, adaptive coping skills, stress management—into school-based and community prevention programmes targeting adolescents and young adults, the demographic where IGD prevalence climbs to 4–10% or higher and where East Asian estimates reach roughly 6%. For a disorder formally recognized by both major psychiatric classification systems, this synthesis provides researchers and clinicians with something they previously lacked: a rigorously quantified, robust, and bias-checked estimate of how psychological resilience relates to problematic gaming, along with a clear roadmap for the longitudinal, cross-cultural, and clinical work that must follow before causality can be claimed.

Subject of Research: The relationship between psychological resilience and internet gaming disorder, quantified through meta-analysis.

Article Title: The Association Between Internet Gaming Disorder and Resilience: A Meta-Analysis

Article References: Hidalgo-Fuentes, S., Martínez-Álvarez, I., & González-Pérez, E. (2026). The Association Between Internet Gaming Disorder and Resilience: A Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-026-01715-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s11469-026-01715-2

Keywords: internet gaming disorder, resilience, meta-analysis, behavioural addiction, adolescents, mental health, I-PACE model, gaming disorder, coping strategies, prevention, psychology, self-regulation