title: Brain stimulation to treat Internet addiction: A commentary.
abstract: In February, 2015, French television screened a report on Internet addiction (IA) in which an individual, identifying himself as cyberdependent, was offered treatment with repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), a Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) technique. Two issues deserve to be emphasized. Firstly, the concept of IA is not unanimously recognized by scientists and has raised a number of questions. Secondly, although the first results suggest that brain stimulation techniques could be a potential therapy for Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), no data are available on the therapeutic effects of rTMS on IA or even excessive Internet use. Currently, we cannot promote the use of rTMS for Internet detoxification because there is no evidence to prove its efficacy. Nevertheless, the similarities between SUDs and IA, and the results of NIBS on SUDs suggest that research can be done to examine the efficacy of NIBS techniques to treat Internet gaming disorder and other forms of IA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, University Hospital of Dijon, 21000 Dijon, France; Addiction Division, Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: benoit.trojak@chu-dijon.fr.
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Trojak
authors.affiliation: Addiction Division, Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: daniele.zullino@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zullino
authors.affiliation: Addiction Division, Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: sophia.achab@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Achab
mesh_terms: D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Brain stimulation; Cyberaddiction; Internet addiction; Internet gaming disorder; Transcranial magnetic stimulation