Mindfulness training showed symptom differences in gaming disorder with depression
A short randomized trial compared mindfulness meditation with progressive muscle relaxation and reported lower depression, gaming-addiction severity and craving in the mindfulness group.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Participants assigned to mindfulness had less severe depression, gaming addiction and craving than those assigned to progressive muscle relaxation. Brain imaging also showed differences in connectivity. The symptom findings come from a specific clinical group, and the abstract does not quantify their size or show whether they persisted beyond the study period.
This abstract-only report does not explain how incomplete follow-up was handled or provide symptom effect sizes and uncertainty estimates. The short observation period leaves longer-term outcomes unresolved.
What researchers found
Depression, gaming-addiction severity and craving
Mindfulness versus progressive muscle relaxation after 1 month; symptom-scale names, effect sizes and confidence intervals were not reported.
Symptoms and brain imaging
The study collected symptom information alongside brain scans before and after training. It examined how activity in different brain regions was connected, then looked for relationships between those connections, behaviour and neurotransmitter-related measures.
Mechanisms remain tentative
Connectivity changes and correlations can suggest mechanisms worth testing. They do not, on their own, demonstrate that a particular brain change caused symptom improvement or establish changes in neurotransmitter levels in individual patients.
The original publication
The effect and neural changes underlying mindfulness meditation training in patients with comorbid internet gaming disorder and depression: A randomized clinical trial.
Xu X, Wang H, Cui S et al.
Transl Psychiatry · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41708591
- Record checked
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