Peer-Reviewed Study

Evolution of Specialist Treatment of Gaming Disorder and Internet Addiction in Japan

Jan 2025 🇯🇵 Frontiers in Psychiatry PEER-REVIEWED

This 2025 Frontiers in Psychiatry paper, with Susumu Higuchi among the authors, tracks how specialist treatment services for gaming disorder and internet addiction in Japan have grown, using mailed surveys of treatment facilities conducted in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2023. The number of facilities offering specialized care rose sharply over that period, though the authors find their geographic distribution remains uneven across the country. Programs increasingly emphasized helping patients build alternative activities and interests rather than simply cutting gaming time, and shifted toward more specialized rather than general-purpose treatment models between 2020 and 2023. Clinicians reported ongoing difficulty managing patients who also have neurodevelopmental conditions, even as their capacity to address these overlapping needs improved. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as a look at how Japan's specialist treatment system — which Higuchi's center pioneered in 2011 — has scaled to meet demand, while gaps in access persist.

4.5-fold increase in specialist treatment facilities, 2016–2023

Survey data collected in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2023 found the number of facilities in Japan offering specialist treatment for gaming disorder and internet addiction grew roughly 4.5-fold over the period.

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CITATION

Kitayuguchi, Takashi, Takanobu Matsuzaki, Kotaro Nishimura, Satoko Mihara, and Susumu Higuchi. "Evolution of Specialist Treatment of Gaming Disorder and Internet Addiction in Japan." Frontiers in Psychiatry 16 (2025): article 1577135. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1577135

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