Electroshock therapy given to young Net addicts

By Hu Yinan and Qin Zhongwei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-03 00:17

Today, all online game operators are required to install a "fatigue system" for players under 18 years, which is designed to restrict their play time to three hours a day. But analysts say there are too many ways to work around the rules.

Until recently, media reported on Yang's alleged "success". Liu Mingyin, a China Central Television reporter, called Yang "a fighter in the Third Opium War", framing the doctor's combat against Internet obsession as part of an ongoing war against "spiritual opium".

For his part, Yang views his acts as part of "a holy crusade" and says the electric current he applies to his "patients" is mild and "not dangerous".

What the youths receive at the clinic isn't really ECT, but a "refreshment therapy" that cautiously helps Net-addicted children calm down, says a story written in Yang's name and published online.

The chief publicity officer at Yang's hospital in Shandong's Linyi city, a mid-aged woman also surnamed Yang, said "the parents (who sent their kids in) can't be fools".

A mother surnamed Xu, whose 18-year-old son received ECT at the clinic, said she has been angered by negative reports about the clinic. "Compared with being on mind altering drugs for three months, electroshock is a safe and effective way to make my son calm and obedient," she said.

Tao Ran, director of the China's first Net addiction clinic, said that ECT is "the last resort" in treating people with severe depression who are suicidal.

"It'll make patients more submissive, no doubt. But at the same time, ECT will cause memory loss," Tao says, adding that Yang's clinic is "the only Net addiction clinic in the world that applies ECT to patients".

Tao's own center has treated more than 4,000 Net-addicted youths. Patients have "comprehensive therapy" that includes medication and psychological counseling.

About 30 percent of Internet addicted youngsters are hyperactive and uncontrollable in a family environment, Tao said.

They need treatment at a professional institution that does not administer ECT, he said.

Zhuo Xiaoqin, a public health expert with the China University of Political Science and Law, said it was wrong to link Internet obsession with mental illness.

"A consistent standard must be in place to determine what Internet addiction really is," he said.

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