Clifford Sussman MD, PLLC

05/13/2026

Digimotor Game Therapy(DGT) for Problematic Screen Use is a new program available to our families for help with Screen Use Disorders, located in the amazing occupational therapy exergaming gym at Fitness for Health in Rockville/North Bethesda, MD. Founder Marc Sickel and I collaborated to develop this groundbreaking new treatment. June 7th there will be a parent open house for the new program, here is the info and a QR code for a separate eventbrite signup for that:

A short youTube preview of the types of gamified OT activities we will offer at our new program:

https://youtube.com/shorts/z2SXvA4kS_U?si=vH0GAkv-lEfZXW0p

Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing the zoom link or signing up through eventbrite.

Best regards, Clifford Sussman, MD

About the Digimotor Game Therapy Innovators:

Clifford Sussman, MD has been in private practice in psychiatry for children, adolescents, and young adults in Washington, DC since 2008. He is an expert on screen use disorders and author of peer-reviewed literature on the topic. His work has been featured in NPR’s 1A, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Parents Magazine, The Washingtonian, Bethesda Magazine, HBO Real Sports, and TIME Magazine for Kids.

Marc Sickel is the owner and founder of Fitness for Health, a pediatric movement and fitness center which has provided occupational and physical therapy to children, teens, and young adults including those with ADHD, autism, and other learning differences since 1989

05/13/2026

As a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and screen use disorder specialist, I wish to announce a free Zoom event for parents on helping kids build healthy screen habits as the wild west of screen use known as “summer vacation” approaches.

This May 18 at 11 am, I will give a free Zoom presentation on healthy screen use to all interested parents in the community, including a question and answer session.

At the end of the presentation I will briefly introduce Digimotor Game Therapy for Problematic Screen Use, a new program available to our families for help with Screen Use Disorders, located in the amazing occupational therapy exergaming gym at Fitness for Health in Rockville/North Bethesda, MD. Founder Marc Sickel and I collaborated to develop this groundbreaking new treatment.

Here is the flyer that we are using to get the message out. We’d be grateful if you’d consider sharing it with families through your parent email list or other communication channels.

f68b17f9-cf2f-47fd-842f-2c1d76201cc2.png

If any parents are interested, they can sign up to our Eventbrite
or email me directly at [email protected] to register and ask any questions.

We really appreciate your support!

www.cliffordsussmanmd.com/dgt

04/17/2026

03/16/2026

At the clinician open house this morning in Rockville for my new evening program in collaboration with Marc Sickel and the Fitness For Health exergaming arcade/gym. What a great time we had demonstrating the amazing high tech equipment! We are calling it DGT: Digimotor Game Therapy for screen addiction. If you’re in the dc area and know someone with excessive gaming internet or social media use, consider referring to us to be screened for our pilot group: [email protected]. In the picture with me: Author of “the Self driven Child” Ned Johnson and Suzanne Navas, LPC.

03/08/2026

Super Nintendo almost destroyed Alex Kovalev's career: ”When I came to the NHL, I was a maniac. I had a Super Nintendo with the cartridges you were always changing. I had—and I’m not lying—about 35 or 40 games lying around the floor. When I woke up in the morning, I’d have breakfast while playing a game. Sometimes I’d be late for practice just to finish a level. After practice, I’d play again for 5-6 hours, get something to eat, and then play again sometimes late into the night. It was really bad. It got to the point where it was affecting my game.
Not sleeping, I’d forget things I needed to do on the ice. It was almost like you were going brain dead, and couldn’t remember what you usually do. At first, I thought maybe I was tired and needed to get more sleep. Then I realized sitting on the bench, I’d sometimes think about the game on the computer and not the hockey game. That’s when I realized it was going in the wrong direction. At one point, I came home, unplugged it and threw it away. I didn’t touch it at all until my kids were born.”
– Alex Kovalev
Source: Sport-Express

03/08/2026

Rested.

01/16/2026

Caption:
Screen-time battles? Power struggles? Overstimulation?
I’m joining 30+ experts for the Screen Time Solutions Summit (Feb 4–6) to help families and educators raise calm, connected, and tech-balanced kids.
🎯 Practical, research-backed tools
💻 100% virtual
🆓 100% free to attend
✨ Save your spot: gozen.com/screentimesummit

31 experts share realistic strategies to support kids’ mental health and screen habits. Free & virtual - don’t miss it!

01/08/2026

https://washingtonian.com/2026/01/07/a-virginia-man-went-missing-did-he-suffer-from-ai-psychosis/

I was interviewed for this interesting piece in the Washingtonian.
Some excerpts:

"Will industry self-policing and technical tweaks be enough? Clifford Sussman, a DC psychiatrist who specializes in screen addiction, is skeptical. “There’s lots of attempts to regulate technology with technology,” he says—but in his experience, those sorts of fixes fall short. When confronted with screen-time notifications, for example, people who spend too much time on their phones don’t tend to change their ways. They simply turn off those messages."

"Toner says chatbot makers face an “inherent tension” between what keeps customers safe and what keeps them engaged. When OpenAI released an updated version of ChatGPT in 2025 that reduced sycophancy, pushed back more against user delusions, and gave advice targeted to specific health conditions such as depression, some users protested. They wanted the chatbot to flatter them. The company quickly reintroduced the older version for paid subscribers and promised to make the new one “warmer and friendlier.” “I don’t have a lot of faith in the people who create these apps to get people off of them,” Sussman says."

After overcoming a troubled childhood, Jon Ganz left Virginia with his wife in search of a better life—only to disappear into the night. Was his obsession with an AI chatbot to blame?

06/22/2025

https://toshaschore.thrivecart.com/leavemealone/?coupon=MSSPECIAL30

Brain-based strategies to stop tech-induced aggression.