Susumu Higuchi
Clinicians & Public Health · Kurihama Medical & Addiction Center
Director of Japan's first internet-addiction treatment facility, open since 2011.
Susumu Higuchi directs the Kurihama Medical & Addiction Center in Japan, which opened the country's first dedicated internet-addiction treatment facility in 2011. The center now treats roughly 2,000 patients a year, making it one of the longest-running and highest-volume clinical programs anywhere addressing compulsive internet and gaming use. Higuchi's center has become a reference point for Japanese public-health researchers and clinicians working to identify and treat problematic technology use in young people.
WORKS IN THE LIBRARY (10)
STUDIES
Development and Validation of a Nine-Item Short Screening Test for ICD-11 Gaming Disorder (GAMES Test) and Estimation of the Prevalence in the General Young Population
This 2021 paper in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, led by Susumu Higuchi, presents the GAMES test — a brief nine-item self-report screening tool built around the World Health Organization's ICD-11 gaming disorder category. Higuchi's team checked the tool against clinical-interview diagnoses among patients already seeking care at Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center, then applied it to a general-population sample of young people ages 10 to 29 to estimate how common gaming-disorder-consistent patterns might be. The screening measure distinguished clinically diagnosed cases from non-cases with high accuracy, and population estimates showed the pattern appearing more often among young males than young females. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as an example of a clinician-built early-identification tool associated with gaming disorder risk in young people, offered as a screening aid rather than a standalone diagnosis.
Application of the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases Gaming Disorder Criteria to Treatment-Seeking Patients: Comparison with the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Internet Gaming Disorder Criteria
Published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions in 2021, this paper by Susumu Higuchi and colleagues at Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center compares two diagnostic frameworks for problematic gaming: the World Health Organization's newer ICD-11 gaming disorder category and the American Psychiatric Association's earlier DSM-5 internet gaming disorder criteria. Clinicians evaluated 241 people already seeking treatment for excessive gaming, applying both sets of criteria through structured interviews. Most participants met both definitions, and the two frameworks largely agreed on the more severe cases, though some differences appeared among people most invested in online console and PC gaming. The authors argue this overlap supports continued work on standardized diagnostic tools. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as clinical evidence linking heavy, functionally impairing gaming to patterns that both major diagnostic systems now recognize.
Validation of the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) Based on the Clinical Diagnosis of IGD in Japan
This 2022 Journal of Behavioral Addictions paper, co-authored by Susumu Higuchi, validates a Japanese translation of the ten-item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) against clinical diagnoses at Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center. Testing 244 gamers, the researchers compared the instrument's original scoring method with a modified version that counted 'sometimes' or 'often' responses as a positive sign. The modified scoring identified people with a clinical diagnosis of internet gaming disorder more accurately than the original method, though it also flagged a notably larger share of the sample as at-risk. The authors call for testing the revised approach in other countries and gaming cultures before wider adoption. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as evidence that screening-tool design choices meaningfully affect how many young gamers are flagged as at risk, underscoring the need for carefully validated instruments rather than informal checklists.
Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Epidemiological Studies of Internet Gaming Disorder: A Systematic Review of the Literature
This 2017 systematic review in Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, co-authored by Susumu Higuchi, surveys 37 cross-sectional and 13 longitudinal studies on internet gaming disorder published through mid-2016. The authors describe wide variation in how often gaming-disorder-consistent patterns were reported across the studies reviewed, generally higher among males and, in some studies, among younger respondents. Factors the underlying studies associated with gaming disorder ranged from gaming habits and family dynamics to social functioning, personality traits, other psychiatric conditions, and physical health measures. Because the studies used inconsistent definitions and methods, the authors caution that direct comparisons across countries are difficult, and they call for future research using standardized international methods. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as a broad evidence map of the research base linking heavy gaming to a range of social, psychological, and family-context factors in young people, while flagging the field's ongoing measurement inconsistency.
Treatment with the Self-Discovery Camp (SDiC) Improves Internet Gaming Disorder
This 2017 Addictive Behaviors paper, with Susumu Higuchi as senior author, reports on a residential program called the Self-Discovery Camp, adapted from a South Korean model and run for ten adolescent boys already diagnosed with internet gaming disorder under DSM-5 criteria. Over an eight-night stay combining psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and group activity, staff tracked participants' gaming hours and their own sense of readiness to change. Three months after the camp, the study found participants were spending less time gaming and reported greater confidence in their ability to change their gaming habits, with earlier onset of heavy gaming associated with stronger gains in problem recognition. The authors call for larger studies with comparison groups and longer follow-up before drawing firm conclusions. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as an example of a structured, short-term intervention associated with reduced gaming time in a small group of adolescent boys.
Gaming Disorder: Its Delineation as an Important Condition for Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention
Published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions in 2017, this consensus paper brings together more than two dozen addiction specialists worldwide — including Susumu Higuchi and his Kurihama colleague Satoko Mihara — to explain and support the World Health Organization's move to add gaming disorder to the draft eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). The authors summarize national studies reporting gaming-disorder-consistent patterns in an estimated 10–15% of young people in several Asian countries, compared with roughly 1–10% in some Western countries, and point to research describing overlapping brain regions activated in gaming disorder, other behavioral addictions, and substance-use disorders. The group argues a formal diagnostic category is needed to support consistent clinical management and prevention efforts internationally. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as the core international scientific statement behind the WHO's gaming disorder classification, of which Higuchi's clinical program was an early real-world example.
Evolution of Specialist Treatment of Gaming Disorder and Internet Addiction in Japan
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.
Toward the Inclusion of Gaming Disorder in ICD-11
In this 2017 editorial in Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Susumu Higuchi, writing ahead of the World Health Organization's ICD-11 release, argues for formally including gaming disorder as a diagnostic category. Higuchi draws on the clinical case his Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center had already been building since 2011 — a growing caseload of patients whose gaming had become compulsive and functionally disabling — and frames a WHO classification as a needed step for consistent diagnosis, treatment planning, and public-health monitoring across countries. He acknowledges debate within the field over whether the evidence base was mature enough for formal inclusion but argues the clinical need outweighed that uncertainty. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as Higuchi's own public argument, addressed directly to fellow clinicians and researchers, for the WHO classification decision his clinic's caseload had already anticipated.
Sharpening the Focus on Gaming Disorder
This 2019 feature in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, reported by journalist Gary Humphreys, profiles Susumu Higuchi's work at Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center alongside a Swiss addiction specialist, framing both as case studies in the WHO's effort to define 'gaming disorder' for ICD-11. Higuchi describes his patient caseload as mostly male and often students who had dropped out of school, and says gaming can be harder to address than substance use because internet access is so pervasive. The piece also cites a Japanese government survey reporting a large rise in adults with broader internet addiction between 2013 and 2018, and notes Higuchi's support for WHO screen-time guidance for young children. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as a direct, on-record account of Higuchi's clinical experience and his view of gaming disorder's growing public-health weight, published in the WHO's own peer-reviewed bulletin.
Doctor Helps Problem Gamers Looking to Hit Reset Button
This March 2019 Kyodo News feature by reporter Mai Yoshikawa profiles Susumu Higuchi's clinical work treating people who come to Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center for compulsive video-game use. The article frames Higuchi as one of Japan's most prominent authorities on gaming addiction and describes patients whose gaming had escalated to the point of disrupting school, work, and family life. The piece situates Higuchi's clinic within a broader Japanese conversation about when gaming crosses from an ordinary hobby into a pattern warranting clinical attention. The full article is now behind Kyodo's subscriber/archive gate, so this entry relies on the outlet's own headline, byline, and lead paragraph rather than reproducing text from behind that gate. TechKids Foundation includes this entry as mainstream Japanese news coverage of Higuchi's clinical profile and public role in the country's response to gaming disorder.