The online world is already the main source of behavioral dependencies, those that have nothing to do with substance intake. Especially in minors. In its first year of operation of the Behavioral Addictions Center of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital (Madrid), the only public center in Spain with a multidisciplinary approach to this type of addictions, the vast majority of patients treated have been for screen dependencies. And in the case of minors, all of them.
The Center for Behavioral Addictions (AdCom) has analyzed the profile of the patient who has attended this program in the first year of life, a total of 622 adult and minor patients, of which 65% of adults and 47 % of adolescents have gone on to receive treatment for having an addiction confirmed by the center’s health professionals.
Among minors, 63.5% have accessed the screening offered by AdCom when expressing problems with video games, 37% with social networks and, in a more residual way, 2.8% with sex and 1.4% with the purchases.
The average age of adolescents is 14 years and 72% are boys, compared to 28% girls. Although it must be taken into account that two possible addictions can coexist, 92% of the problems with video games have been registered among males, while on social networks, 63% of these adolescents are girls. In the minor population, all access to these contents is done through the Internet.
Of the 140 adolescents treated, 49% have been referred to other healthcare resources to reorient their behavior; however, 47% had an addiction or degree of dependence that required inclusion in the Gregorio Marañón Hospital program.
This device offers the possibility of attending the program without having to go through your Primary Care doctor or your Mental Health center to avoid the reluctance that the patient may have when expressing an addiction, they point out from the Gregorio Marañón hospital. Once summoned, the screening process is carried out at the hospital by completing questionnaires to determine the degree of addiction and psychological or psychiatric affectation. Adults can fill them out through their Virtual Health Card or a tablet provided by the hospital itself, as in the case of minors and their parents.
The profile of the adult patient who comes to this center is a 38-year-old male (78%), who manifests problems with gambling. Specifically, this section represents 35.7% of adult consultations, and of them 80% are men, and access in 70% of cases is online.
Sex addiction is the second most frequent cause of consultation, accounting for 28%, with practically 100% being men. The average age is around 40 years and 85% of patients access it through screens. And the third, compulsive purchases, represent almost 21%, and in this case 90% are women and the average age is approximately 46 years.
In adults, a significant profile is patients who are addicted to video games. In this case it is usually male (almost 90%) and young (under 25 years old). This addiction is reported in around 20% of patients who come for screening.
Around 24% of adults at the center have multiple addictions and of the 482 patients treated, 65% enter the program, where other mental health disorders are also detected. For example, in patients with pathological gambling, the most common psychiatric pathology is depression and anxiety disorder and alcohol consumption. In sex addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety are prevalent, and in shopping addiction, chronic depression and eating disorders are most common.
