Treatments for Internet Addiction, Sex Addiction and Compulsive Buying: A Meta-Analysis

Course overview

The article reviews the effectiveness of various treatment approaches for internet addiction, sex addiction, and compulsive buying. The meta-analysis examines 91 studies involving 3,531 participants to assess the short-term and long-term efficacy of psychological, pharmacological, and combined treatments for these behavioral addictions. The results show that all three types of treatments (psychological, pharmacological, and combined) are associated with significant improvements in reducing the global severity of these addictions. The study also finds that combined cognitive-behavioral and pharmacological interventions are generally more effective than monotherapies. The authors highlight the need for more rigorous clinical trials to further validate these findings and explore potential moderators, such as the mode of treatment delivery and cultural context, which can impact treatment outcomes.