Author(s)

Pilios-Dimitris Stavrou^1,2,3

¹Department of Psychology, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
²Laboratory of Clinical Psychology, Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis (PCPP), University Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
³21 G. Papandreou Street, Zografos, Athens, Greece.

The present case study focused on a 14 years old teenager who struggled with addiction to computer games and subsequent issues of aggression and social withdrawal. Drawing from theories on addiction, self-esteem, and mentalization, we focused the connection of addiction to low self-esteem and poor mental representations. In addition, we examined the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy on treating addiction improving levels of self-esteem and alleviating aggressive behaviour over a course of two and a half years. Indeed, the use of a combination of three projective tests, namely the Thematic Apperception Test, the Kinetic Family Drawing, the Family Apperception Test and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale helped us determine our patient’s emotional state and lack of self-esteem at the beginning of therapy. The same tests were administered at the end of the therapeutic sessions and the results are discussed in relation to the progress of the patient over the course of the therapy.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Addiction, Computer Games, Aggression, Mentalization, Self-Esteem

Stavrou, P. (2018) Addiction to Video Games: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy on a Teenage Addict Struggling with Low Self-Esteem and Aggression Issues. Psychology, 9, 2436-2456. doi: 10.4236/psych.2018.910140.