Light Therapy for Internet Gaming Disorder

A Randomized Controlled Double-Blind Trial of Light Therapy for Internet Gaming Disorder

This project aims to investigate (1) the efficacy of light therapy on internet gaming disorder (IGD); (2) the underlying neural mechanisms of such efficacy

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Internet Gaming Disorder; Light Therapy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Light therapy; Other: Light placebo therapy; Other: Emotion Bias Modification Training

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 104
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Guangdong
    • Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, 510000
      • South China Normal University
  • Guangzhou
    • Guangdong, Guangzhou, China, 510000
      • Jinan University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. the 5th edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 ) recommended diagnosis of Internet gaming disorder;
2. the scores of the Young-Internet addiction Test ≥ 50;
3. playing internet games ≥15 h/week for ≥1 year

Exclusion Criteria:

1. current or history of psychiatric or neurological illness;
2. current or history of use of illegal substances and other addictions;
3. current use of psychotropic medications ;
4. any history of head trauma, presence of metal in the body or other contraindication to functional MRI scanning;
5. photosensitivity disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematosus and chronic actinic dermatitis.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Light therapy; about 30 individuals with internet gaming disorder will be randomly assigned to the light therapy group	Other: Light therapy; The light therapy will be administered by custom-made light boxes (LED) with adjustable brightness. The light intensity will be set at 5000 Lux. The intervention will consist of daily exposure for 30 minutes in the morning. The whole intervention includes 14 days.
Placebo Comparator: Light placebo; about 30 individuals with internet gaming disorder will be randomly assigned to the light placebo group	Other: Light placebo therapy; The light placebo intervention will be administered by custom-made light boxes (LED) with adjustable brightness. The light intensity will be set at less than 200 Lux. The intervention will consist of daily exposure for 30 minutes in the morning. The whole intervention includes 14 days.
Other: EABM training group; about 30 individuals with internet gaming disorder will be randomly assigned to the EABM training group	Other: Emotion Bias Modification Training; The training aims at associating gaming pictures with negative words and pictures of healthy activities with positive words. Gaming pictures are always presented with a pair of negative words. Pictures of healthy activities are always presented with a pair of positive words. Each picture is presented with a fixed pair of words. Participants will be instructed to select one word to get the most monetary reward. Specifically, selecting a fixed word of the word-pair will be associated with a high probability (eighty percent) of getting a monetary reward and a low probability (twenty percent) of no reward, and probabilities will be reversed for the other word. Each training run will comprise 100 gaming picture trials and 100 healthy-activity picture trials, presented in a pseudo-randomized order. Participants will receive two training runs every day. The whole training includes 14 days.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
changes in withdrawal symptoms	The scores of withdrawal symptoms will be assessed with the mood and physical symptoms scale.	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in weekly gaming time	weekly gaming time will be recorded by Software.	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in craving	Craving will be assessed using a Visual Analog Scale during a cue-reactivity task.	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
change of BOLD signals	Task-based fMRI and resting state fMRI.	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in IGD severity	The scores of IGD severity will be assessed with the internet addiction test for internet gaming disorder.	baseline , within one day after intervention, and 4-week after intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
changes in gaming-related compulsive thoughts	The scores of gaming-related compulsive thoughts will be assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale modified for internet gaming disorder.	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in gaming-related compulsive behaviors	The scores of gaming-related compulsive behaviors will be assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale modified for internet gaming disorder.	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in the quality and patterns of sleep	The scores of the quality and patterns of sleep will be assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in the severity of depression	The scores of the severity of depression will be assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory（BDI）	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in the severity of anxiety	The scores of the severity of anxiety will be assessed with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)	baseline and within 1 day after intervention
changes in the severity of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression	The scores of emotion regulation strategies will be assessed with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ)	baseline and within 1 day after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Jinan University Guangzhou

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 16, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 15, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): June 15, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 27, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 27, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): December 11, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 24, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2024
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Compulsive Behavior; Impulsive Behavior; Behavior, Addictive; Technology Addiction; Internet Addiction Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: Internet Gaming Disorder

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No