A 12-year-old boy is treated with a series of low-voltage shocks in a therapy that doctors at an Internet addiction clinic in China say helps patients sleep better. (By Greg Baker -- Associated Press)
In China, Stern Treatment For Young Internet 'Addicts':
Tao and his team of 15 doctors and nurses defended the treatment methods. He said that while some clinics depend wholly on medications -- in one experiment conducted in Ningbo, a city south of Shanghai, suspected Internet addicts were given the same pills as drug addicts -- only one out of five patients at the Daxing clinic receive prescription drugs. Tao did agree with Guo that Internet addiction is usually an expression of deeper psychological problems.
"We use these medicines to give them happiness," Tao said, "so they no longer need to go on the Internet to be happy."
Still, for all the high-tech treatments available to Sun at the clinic, the one that he says helped him most was talking. He looks forward to returning to school and getting on with his life.
The first task on his agenda when he gets home: get online. He needs to tell his worried Internet friends where he was these past few weeks.
