Gaming disorder is a growing concern affecting adolescents, exacerbated by the impact of recent COVID-19 restrictions. The World Health Organization has recently included gaming disorder in the 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). However, there is still an ongoing debate about the validity and reliability of the proposed clinical criteria, despite growing neurobiological evidence in this cohort. Systematic reviews in this area have focused mainly on adults or mixed adult/adolescent populations. Therefore, this systematic review explored the neuroimaging literature in adolescents (under 18 years old) with gaming disorder.

Using PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 3288 primary studies were identified from PubMed, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO and Web of Science. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria (appropriate title, abstract, comparison group used within study, English-language, neuroimaging and mean age under 18), 24 studies were included in this review.

Functional and structural brain alterations in adolescent gaming disorder were noted across several imaging modalities, including electroencephalogram (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Compared with healthy controls, adolescents with gaming disorder demonstrated neurological changes comparable to substance addiction, namely impairments in emotional regulation, reward-seeking, inhibition and increased risky decision-making. Positive brain adaptations in the areas of visuospatial processing and memory were observed.

A number of key brain regions are affected in adolescent gaming disorder. These findings can help clinicians understand adolescent presentations with gaming disorder from a neurobiological perspective. Future studies should focus on forming a robust neurobiological and clinical framework for adolescent gaming disorder.

This paper explores factors linking gender with increased perceived coercion, perceived negative pressures and procedural injustice during psychiatric admission.

We used validated tools to perform detailed assessments of 107 adult psychiatry inpatients admitted to acute psychiatry admission units at two general hospitals in Dublin, Ireland, between September 2017 and February 2020.

Among female inpatients (n = 48), perceived coercion on admission was associated with younger age and involuntary status; perceived negative pressures were associated with younger age, involuntary status, seclusion, and positive symptoms of schizophrenia; and procedural injustice was associated with younger age, involuntary status, fewer negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and cognitive impairment. Among females, restraint was not associated with perceived coercion on admission, perceived negative pressures, procedural injustice, or negative affective reactions to hospitalisation; seclusion was associated with negative pressures only. Among male inpatients (n = 59), not being born in Ireland appeared more relevant than age, and neither restraint nor seclusion were associated with perceived coercion on admission, perceived negative pressures, procedural injustice, or negative affective reactions to hospitalisation.

Factors other than formal coercive practices are primarily linked with perceived coercion. Among female inpatients, these include younger age, involuntary status, and positive symptoms. Among males, not being born in Ireland appears more relevant than age. Further research is needed on these correlations, along with gender-aware interventions to minimise coercive practices and their consequences among all patients.

This paper provides a brief overview of the history of occupational therapy in psychiatry in Ireland and explores why the contribution of an early Irish psychiatrist and proponent of occupational therapy, Dr Eamon O’Sullivan (1897–1966), was not fully recognised in the decades after his retirement in 1962.

A review of selected key reports, papers and publications related to the history of occupational therapy was undertaken.

Eamon O’Sullivan was appointed Resident Medical Superintendent at Killarney Mental Hospital Co. Kerry in 1933 and developed an occupational therapy department at the hospital from the 1930s until his retirement in 1962. He wrote one of the first textbooks of occupational therapy published in 1955. His occupational therapy philosophy reflects the early decades after the formalisation of the profession in 1917 when beliefs about the curative properties of occupation flourished and professional education programmes were scarce. By the time O’Sullivan’s textbook was published it received a lukewarm reception within occupational therapy as it did not reflect 1950s practice and professional philosophy. The professionalisation of occupational therapy in Ireland in the 1960s was also a factor in the lack of acknowledgement of O’Sullivan’s contribution to the profession.

Practice and professional philosophy change and the paper concludes by considering O’Sullivan’s work in light of contemporary occupational therapy which once again places occupation at its centre and emphasises the importance of balance, health and wellbeing.