Yasser Khazaal

• MD, Full Professor of Addiction Psychiatry
• Professor (Full) at Lausanne University Hospital and Lausanne University

Gamers with poor self-concept, high social anxiety and high loneliness are more at risk of problematic involvement in video games, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games. There is a research gap concerning treatment approaches to cater to socially anxious gamers with problematic patterns of gaming involvement. This registered explo...

Introduction Cyberchondria has been growing in recent years. Understanding the relationship between e-Health Literacy and Cyberchondria is important, as enhancing e-Health Literacy perhaps empower individuals to navigate online health information without experiencing Cyberchondria. The present study aimed to investigate levels of e-Health Literacy...

La médecine des addictions est amenée à relever les défis relatifs aux changements du monde dans lequel nous vivons, telles que les transformations du marché des drogues mais aussi la digitalisation croissante de nos environnements. Une partie des nouveautés présentées dans cet article exposent certains de ces défis et des possibles manières de les...

Cette étude explore les représentations sociales (RS) de ­­l’héroïne dans un centre de traitement universitaire avec traitement par prescription de diacétylmorphine (TPD) en Suisse romande. Treize professionnel·le·s ont participé à des entretiens individuels et un sous-groupe a aussi participé à un focus group. Trois résultats principaux émergent....

S’adonner aux jeux vidéo est devenu l’un des loisirs les plus populaires au monde. Selon les groupes d’âge et les régions, 40 à 90 % de la population jouent ou ont joué à un jeu vidéo, y trouvant des sources d’excitation, de plaisir, de découverte, d’apprentissage, de gratification, de partage et de socialisation. Néanmoins, cette pratique peut par...

Coercion is a central issue of psychiatric care. Coercion is a complex phenomenon that should best be conceived as multidimensional. Three categories of coercion can be described: formal coercion (i.e., coercive measures such as seclusion or restraint), informal coercion (i.e., pressures and leverages used to influence patients), and subjective coe...

Des éléments de convergence entre les activités de jeux de hasard et d’argent (JHA) et les jeux vidéo (JV) ont été identifiés dans la documentation scientifique. Toutefois, le manque d’études qualitatives sur le sujet limite la compréhension de l’influence de ces phénomènes sur la participation aux JHA et aux JV. La présente étude recourt à un devi...

Introduction : Depuis quelques années, le concept de consommation excessive, souvent appelé binge , est utilisé pour guider des démarches préventives, notamment pour les dépendances aux substances. Or, la pertinence de ce marqueur précoce n’a jamais été explorée en ce qui a trait à l’hyperconnectivité, phénomène pouvant se traduire par une surutili...

Vécus de joueurs ayant souffert de Trouble de Jeu vidéo , narration par des thérapeutes

The exponential growth in worldwide smartphone adoption has led to mounting concerns about problematic smartphone use (PSU), with some studies of variably defined PSU yielding prevalence rates as high as 20 to 30%. The present study aims to (a) estimate the prevalence of PSU while emphasizing functional impairment, and (b) examine the degree to whi...

Objectifs Présenter le concept de bien-être numérique et explorer la place d’outils digitaux au service de ce bien-être. Méthode L’article se base sur une description du concept de bien-être numérique, des modèles d’intervention actuellement disponibles et des possibilités d’évolution de ces modèles. Résultats L’utilisation des téléphones intellige...

Résumé Objectif Il existe peu d'outils capables de mesurer le rétablissement des individus présentant des troubles mentaux en tenant compte des différentes dimensions du rétablissement. Cependant, le rétablissement englobe plusieurs objectifs au niveau de l'autonomie, des relations interpersonnelles positives, de la santé mentale et physique, de l...

Exercise addiction, although not yet officially recognized, can be defined as the harmful practice of physical exercise, described as a compulsive need, where damage take precedence over the benefits of this practice, with a continuation of this behavior despite the negative consequences. A number of risk factors have been identified, including psy...

Background Mentalizing refers to the ability to understand one’s own and others’ mental states. Mentalizing is considered a key component of social cognition and healthy personality development. A multinational assessment tools able to appraise the multidimensional and multifaceted aspects of this complex construct are needed. Objective The presen...

Background Online pornography use, an ever more common activity, has raised myriad psychosocial and clinical concerns. While there is a need to screen for and measure its problematic dimension, there is a debate about the adequacy of existing assessment tools. Objective The study compares two instruments for measuring pathological online pornograp...

Introduction: Rumors published during the COVID-19 pandemic have damaged people's understanding of a particular medical condition, as well as the conditions necessary for crisis management. The present study aimed to explore the extent of misinformation, including Fake, False, and Misleading news on COVID-19, which is available on the Internet.Mate...

Introduction Compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) has previously been reported among people who use cyberporn. However, most of the previous studies included convenience samples of students or samples of the general adult population. Research examining the factors that predict or are associated with CCU are still scarce. In this study, we aimed to (a) as...

Background Geolocation apps have radically transformed dating practices around the world, with profound sociocultural implications. Few studies, however, have explored their addictive potential or factors that are associated with their misuse. Objective The present study aimed to assess the level of problematic Tinder use (PTU) in an adult sampl...

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. Methodology: The authors reviewed two clinical cases of patients with symptoms of bipolar disorder with rapid cycling. Medical history, symptoms and treatment were docume...

Aims: The objective of this study is to underline the impact of Gaming Disorder on the clinical evolution of patients with First Episode Psychosis. The specific aims of the study are to determine the prevalence of gaming disorder among those patients and assess the consequences of gaming on their clinical trajectory. Methods: This is a prospecti...

Background The Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS) is a widely used 12-item tool to assess mental health and social functioning. The French version has an added 13th item measuring adherence to psychotropic medication. The aim of the current study is to uncover the unknown pattern of the new item 13 and to compare the unidimensional and mult...

Background and aims: Problem gambling constitutes a public health concern associated with psychopathological comorbidity, substance use, and financial difficulties. Most individuals with gambling problems avoid counseling services due to perceived stigma and their preference for self-reliance. Treatment accessibility could be improved through web-...

Introduction Pornography use is a common sexual activity with potentially addictive use in some people. Even though craving is being recognized as an important characteristic of addictive behaviors, there is a lack of a specific validated instrument measuring the pornography craving experience. The present study aimed at adapting and validating an...

Cyberporn seems to be more addictive than other classic porn supports (e.g. magazines). Beyond its addictive risk, it would be linked to the highlighting of sexual performances without consideration of relationships and human encounters. The literature showed associations between cyberporn and the attitudes, beliefs, and sexual preferences of its u...

The literature reported links between pornography and Rape Myths Acceptance (RMA). The most exposed participants to pornography would be desensitized by its content and minimize rape and violence against women. Studies associating cyberporn use and RMA remain scarce. Few studies have linked compulsive cyberporn use to RMA, or to attraction to parti...

Pornography use remains a common sexual activity with potentially addictive use in part of some people. Even though craving is being recognized as an important characteristic of addictive behaviors, we note a lack of a specific validated instrument measuring the pornography craving experience. The present study aimed at adapting and validating an i...

Aims: The objective of this study is to underline the impact of Gaming Disorder on the clinical evolution of patients with First Episode Psychosis. The specific aims of the study are to determine the prevalence of gaming disorder among those patients and assess the consequences of gaming on their clinical trajectory. Methods: This is a prospective...

While an extensive scientific literature now exists on the use of online dating services, there are very few studies on user satisfaction with dating apps and with the resulting offline dates. This study aimed to assess the level of satisfaction with Tinder use (STU) and the level of satisfaction with Tinder offline dates (STOD) in a sample of adul...

Background An analysis of predictors of smoking behaviour among users of smoking cessation apps can provide useful information beyond what is already known about predictors in other contexts. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify the best predictors of smoking cessation, smoking reduction and relapse six months after starting to u...

The Multidimensional Assessment of COVID-19-Related Fears (MAC-RF) is an 8-item self-report measure, which is based on the theoretical premise that fear responses to COVID-19 involve different yet intertwined domains (i.e., bodily, relational, cognitive, and behavioural). In this multi-step study, we tested the psychometric properties of the French...

Introduction: Studies of the users' engagement with smoking cessation application (apps) can help understand how these apps are used by smokers, in order to improve their reach and efficacy. Objective: The present study aimed at identifying the best predictors of the users' level of engagement with a smartphone app for smoking cessation and at e...

Background Cyberchondria is characterized by repeated and compulsive online searches for health information, resulting in increased health anxiety and distress. It has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct fueled by both anxiety and compulsivity-related factors and described as a “transdiagnostic compulsive behavioral syndrome,” which...

Introduction: Online dating is a common phenomenon. The manageability and access of the application allows people to quickly reach many potential partners, which can increase risky sexual behaviors. The Problematic Tinder Use Scale (PTUS) was developed and validated in a Polish population by analyzing the reliability, validity, and factor structur...

Background A growing number of studies highlight the importance of emotion regulation in the treatment and recovery of individuals with psychosis and concomitant disorders such as substance use disorder (SUD), for whom access to integrated dual-disorder treatments is particularly difficult. In this context, dedicated smartphone apps may be useful t...

The smartphone dating app, Tinder, has become hugely popular in recent years. Although most people use a free version of the app, some pay for an augmented version to improve their experience. However, there is little evidence of the association between the willingness to pay for a dating app such as Tinder and users’ psychological characteristics....

Objective Despite the availability of thousands of mental health applications, the extent to which they are used and the factors associated with their use remain largely unknown. The present study aims to (a) assess in a representative US-based population sample the use of smartphone apps for mental health and wellbeing (SAMHW), (b) determine the v...

Problematic social network use

Addictions appear everywhere, mutate, transform with new products and behaviors, playing on our painstaking efforts to try to control them. Drawn into this current, the impression that dominates invites more to understand and to coax rather than to fight. Addictions are our condition, let's deal with it, rather than fight against them. It is theref...

Background Substance-induced consciousness alterations (CA) have mainly been studied among users of psychedelics but not among people using street drugs. Aims Explore occurrences of three different types of substance-induced CA [ego dissolution (ED), visual pseudo-hallucinations (VPH), anxiety/paranoia (A/P)] and their perceived influences on life...

The use of smartphone apps for addiction treatment has become increasingly popular in recent years. These apps aim to support individuals in their recovery by providing a range of features such as digital brief intervention, assessment and normative feedback, cognitive behavioral therapy and social support networks. Some of the available apps rely...

The structural addictive characteristics of gambling products are important targets for prevention, but can be unintuitive to laypeople. In the PictoGRRed (Pictograms for Gambling Risk Reduction) study, we aimed to develop pictograms that illustrate the main addictive characteristics of gambling products and to assess their impact on identifying th...

The COVID-19 pandemic has put healthcare workers under important psychological pressure. Concerns have been raised regarding the mental health and psychological status of healthcare workers and have underlined the need for institutions to develop long-term interventions to support their resilience. The current case study presents the way a large un...

Telemedicine could improve access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Telemedicine-delivered MOUD (TMOUD) has expanded substantially in response to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on in-person clinical contact, yet this expansion has not happened consistently across all health systems and countries. This Review aims to...

Background: There is a growing interest in understanding the impact of video games in the clinical field, given that their excessive use could be associated with health issues. Particularly, gaming disorder (GD) is considered as an addictive behavioral disorder. Clinicians widely recognize the comorbidity of gaming and psychotic disorders (PDs). F...

This chapter discusses the status of CBT in Switzerland from a practical, training, and scientific perspective. A history of psychotherapy is reviewed within the country with a greater focus on CBT within a diverse and competitive psychotherapy marketplace. Professional organizations and their role in guiding the development of CBT within Switzerla...

Background Problematic smartphone use, like problematic internet use, is a condition for which treatment is being sought on the web. In the absence of established treatments, smartphone-provided tools that monitor or control smartphone use have become increasingly popular, and their dissemination has largely occurred without oversight from the ment...

Background and aims Intense use of smartphones is associated with mental health problems and low well-being. However, little is known about the mental health and well-being of non- and low-level users. This study investigated the possibly non-linear associations between time spent using a smartphone, including non-users, and mental health and well-...

A scientometric analysis was realized to outline clinical research on psychedelics over the last century. Web of Science Core Collection was searched up to March 18, 2022, for publications on psychedelics. Network analyses and bibliometrics were combined, to identify research themes and trends with Bibliometrix and CiteSpace. The primary aim was to...

Background: While quitting smoking dramatically decreases overall mortality, general practitioners (GPs) are less likely to prescribe medications for smoking cessation than other cardiovascular risk factors. Guidelines recommend providers first assess patients' "readiness" to quit, an "opt-in" strategy, but only a minority of tobacco users are rea...

Introduction: The psychometric properties of the Arab translation of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) have been previously studied by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with AMOS software using the asymptotically distribution-free (ADF) estimator. Unidimensionality has been achieved at the cost of correlating several item variance errors....

Invalidity insurance (IV) lies at the interface of medical, legal and economic fields, and the basic principles underlying its functioning are complex and often misunderstood by doctors and therapists, as they are far removed from clinical practice in the field, known as "therapy". However, the IV is essential social insurance for professional rein...

The use of unmodified electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), i.e., ECT without general anesthesia, vis-a-vis human rights of mental health patients and standards of care, is discussed. An overview of unmodified ECT is provided, followed by an account of recent events in Chile, where the Minister of Health referred the administration of unmodified ECT to...

BACKGROUND Cyberchondria is characterized by repeated and compulsive online searches for health information, resulting in increased health anxiety and distress. It has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct fueled by both anxiety and compulsivity-related factors and described as a “transdiagnostic compulsive behavioral syndrome,” which...

Background and aims: Cyberchondria is characterized by repeated and compulsive online searches for health information, resulting in increased health anxiety and distress. This behaviour has been considered an emerging public health issue, which may have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate changes in the...

The Swiss Youth and Media Act, which is about to enter into force, is an attempt to provide a legislative framework for video game use. Among other inclusions, the law intends to make providers more accountable by taking measures to protect minors from harm that can be caused by improper use of video games. However, it is a challenge to create a le...

Cannabis is the most popular psychoactive substance under international regulations, with more than 192 million users worldwide. It has been associated with an addictive pattern of use and negative social and health-related outcomes in a subgroup of users. Consequently, understanding the individual differences that contribute to cannabis use and pr...

Cybersex includes all observable sexual activities, practiced on the Internet and dedicated to sexual gratification. It includes sex chats, online sex games, pornography consumption, etc. Cybersex could shift towards a compulsive use that would impact the quality and satisfaction of life of its followers. The aim of this research is to explore the...

Current research indicates deficits in cognitive function together with widespread changes in brain activity following long-term cannabis use. In particular, cannabis use has been associated with excessive spectral power of the alpha rhythm (8–12 Hz), which is also known to be modulated during attentional states. Recent neuroimaging studies have li...

Psychological disorders are often associated with a lack of inhibitory and interference control. In this paper, we present the software architecture design of a configurable serious game dedicated to inhibitory and interference control tests. The proposed architecture is based on generic components that are reusable across different game platforms...

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) in which players create an avatar that evolves and interacts with other avatars in a persistent virtual world. In a previous study about motivations to play MMORPG, participants were asked whether they agree or not to have their avatar monitored on the lon...

Background: A major model in psychiatry that influences service delivery is the recovery model which emphasizes personal goals and overcoming obstacles to meet them. The Client Assessment of Strengths, Interests, and Goals - CASIG (Wallace, Lecomte, Wilde, & Liberman, 2001) is a well-known functional assessment, that was not only presented deficits...

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate predictors of unplanned readmission to a specialized hospital addiction unit within less than 30 days, between 30 and 60 days and over 60 days post-discharge among individuals with a diagnosis of substance use disorder. Methods Cox proportional hazards regressions were used to test the effects...

Cases of addictions and misuses on gabapentinoids are increasingly reported. But the underlying pharmacological mechanism is not completely understood. Here is an uptodate of the current knowledges on this dependence and its management.

Primary care physicians are in an excellent position to address smoking during routine consultations. To this end, physicians have assessment tools and brief interventions appropriate for the duration of consultations. However, these tools are difficult to use consistently in practice. Mobile applications (apps) aimed at stopping smoking could help...

As defined by the World Health Organization, the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), given its special geopolitical situation and internal/external conflicts, faces an increase in illegal activities such as drug production and trafficking, highlighting the need for a comprehensive understanding of the substance use situation. On the basis of a revi...

Aims: To test whether the Stop-Tabac smartphone application increased smoking cessation rates. Design: A 2-arm, parallel group, individually randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Setting and participants: 5293 daily smokers (Stop-tabac=2639, control=2654) enrolled on app stores and on the Internet in 2019-2020, who lived in France or Swi...

The management of patients who have become dependent on benzodiazepines and analogues is a problem frequently encountered in both somatic and psychiatric medicine. No pharmacological treatment is currently recognized as effective in the management of these addictions, apart from a gradual reduction of doses. We propose practical strategies for the...

In the context of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in March 2020 and the health alert declared by the Swiss Confederation, hospitals had to rethink the provision of several services in order to meet the needs of this new patient population. Health professionals had to adapt to this exceptional situation, both professionally and personally. Supporti...

Objectif Proposer quelques repères pour faciliter le processus de création d’applications pour téléphones intelligents (apps) en santé mentale. Méthode Présentation brève de l’intérêt potentiel des apps et proposition argumentée d’étapes clés pour la création des apps. L’article se base sur une revue narrative, un retour d’expérience et des discuss...

Cyberchondria is a clinical entity of excessive and repetitive online health-related searches, associated with health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and intolerance of uncertainty. Its relationships with depressive and somatic symptoms have not yet received much attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual and comparat...

BACKGROUND Smoking cessation is an essential part of preventing and reducing risk of smoking associated morbidity and mortality. However, there is often little time to discuss smoking cessation in primary care. Encounter decision aids, short, patient-facing decision aids used during clinic visits, optimize therapeutic education and increase interac...

Background: Smoking cessation is an essential part of preventing and reducing the risk of smoking-associated morbidity and mortality. However, there is often little time to discuss smoking cessation in primary care. Decision aids (DAs) designed for clinic visits (encounter DAs) need to be clear, short, and concise to optimize therapeutic education...

Background and Aims: Internet gambling has recently grown in popularity, but relatively little is known about how online and the combination of online and offline (mixed) gambling are associated with gambling disorder (GD) and related problems. The present research examined in a cohort study sample of young Swiss men how their gambling activities a...

Aims Negative and Positive urgency are emotion-related impulsivity traits that are thought to be transdiagnostic factors in psychopathology. However, it has recently been claimed that these two traits are closely related to each other and that considering them separately might have limited conceptual and methodological value. The present study aime...

Background: Seniors have been only little considered in studies examining problematic internet use and associated health issues, although they may present risk factors that make them particularly vulnerable for the development of problematic internet use. Objectives: (1) To compare Internet use and problematic use among seniors in Switzerland and P...

The choice of opioid-assisted treatments for patients with heroin dependence is particularly diverse in Switzerland. Since 1994, diacetylmorphine assisted treatments are available. The rules for prescribing and dispensing diacetylmorphine, as laid down by the FOPH, are particularly strict, requiring patients to attend the treatment center several t...

Social functioning is a central to the treatment of people with psychosis, even more so with the recovery movement promoting an optimal life in one's environment. A good ability to function socially is, among other things, associated with fewer future complications and a better overall quality of life. However, prognostic markers currently in use (...

Objective To propose some key steps to facilitate the process of creating mental health smartphone applications (apps). Methods Brief presentation of the potential interest of apps and proposition of key steps for the creation of apps. The paper is based on a narrative review, a testimonial experience and some expert works. Results Apps have ubiqui...

The Covid-19 pandemic has a major impact on psychiatry by its social consequences and possible direct effect of certain forms of Covid-19 on mental health. During this crisis, the accessibility of technology meets a state of necessity, which has propelled telepsychiatry from the shadows into the light. The contribution of several technologies (i.e....

Objective: There are concerns about nonscientific and/or unclear information on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that is available on the Internet. Furthermore, people’s ability to understand health information varies and depends on their skills in reading and interpreting information. This study aims to evaluate the readability and creditab...