Psychotic depression with suicidality in the context of internet gaming disorder and chronic cannabis use.
A man in his 20s was admitted after a serious suicide attempt (hypnotic overdose) following months of severe depression and social withdrawal. In the preceding 2weeks, after a 2-day forced break from gaming due to a brief, mild, self-limited illness during which COVID-19 testing was not performed an...
| Published in: | BMJ Case Reports Vol. 19; no. 7; pp. 1 - 7 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
Jul2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=195961994&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 195961994 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 1757790X B755 jtl: BMJ Case Reports issn: 1757790X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 19 iid: 7 pid: 8280 pub: BMJ Publishing Group artinfo: ui: 195961994 10.1136/bcr-2026-272917 195961994 ppf: 1 ppct: 6 formats: tig: atl: Psychotic depression with suicidality in the context of internet gaming disorder and chronic cannabis use. aug: au: Ružić, Mirela Ćelić Gajšak, Linda Rossini Svetinović, Darjan Florijan, Marijana Knezović affil: Jankomir Psychiatric Hospital, Zagreb, City of Zagreb, Croatia. sug: ab: A man in his 20s was admitted after a serious suicide attempt (hypnotic overdose) following months of severe depression and social withdrawal. In the preceding 2weeks, after a 2-day forced break from gaming due to a brief, mild, self-limited illness during which COVID-19 testing was not performed and loss of in-game status, he developed derealisation and paranoid ideas that others were' non-playable characters'. His history revealed compulsive online gaming (approximately 10 hours/ day) and chronic cannabis use, and urine toxicology was positive for cannabis. He was treated with antipsychotics and antidepressants, a short course of benzodiazepines, psychoeducation and family work, with plans for cannabis abstinence and gaming restriction. Psychotic symptoms and suicidality remitted over 4weeks. At follow-up, up to 3months, clinical stability was maintained, urine toxicology was negative for cannabis and symptom measures improved. This case illustrates a clinically important temporal and phenomenological association between severe depression, problematic gaming, cannabis use and psychotic decompensation while emphasising that causality cannot be inferred from a single case. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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