Electroshock Therapy to End Internet Addiction in China

After electroshock therapy has shown traumatic results on teens in the eastern Addiction Treatment Center in Shandong Province, China. This has resulted in one teen killing her mother for retribution of the suffering faced during the detox regime. Furthermore, the country vows to put an end to it.

Parents have been sending their kids and teens to addiction centers like these in order to put an end to their children’s relentless internet searching and game playing. At first, unregulated, these camps could pretty much do what they want. But now, China is beginning to regulate the camps and put an end to its worst abuses such as electroshock and other “physical punishments”.

Dr. Tao, the director of the Internet Addiction Clinic at Beijing Military General Hospital remarked on how for the majority of teens, the results of electroshock therapy are fleeting, but he’s dealt with some teens that are so traumatized they can’t even hear the word “hospital” or “doctor” without panicking.“They didn’t talk, were afraid to meet people and refused to leave their homes.”

The new legislation plans on limiting how much time each day that adolescents will be permitted to use the internet or play games, including at internet cafes. Game providers are required to take measures to advocate restriction as well, such as making the players register under their real name. For instance, minors are restricted from online gaming between midnight and 8am.

Scientific research done at Nottingham Trent University in Britain shows that the best treatment for internet addiction is individual or group cognitive-behavioral therapy, done with patients parents or significant others. Medication can be helpful as well, but only if the addiction is paired with anxiety, depression, or mood swings. But electroshock therapy “are not commonly used in the treatment of internet and gaming addiction and are to be considered unethical and inhumane,” Dr. Kuss, specialist on internet and game addiction, says.