China Shock Therapy On Internet Addicts To Be Ended

BEIJING (AP) -- China's Health Ministry has ordered a hospital to stop using electric shock therapy to cure youths of Internet addiction, saying there was no scientific evidence it worked.

Linyi Mental Health Hospital in eastern Shandong province used the treatment as part of a four-month program that has so far treated nearly 3,000 youths, the China Youth Daily newspaper has reported, citing the psychiatrist who runs it, Yang Yongxin.

The ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site late Monday there is no domestic or international clinical evidence that electric shock therapy helps cure Internet addiction. Electric shock therapy is most often used to treat severe depression.

Chinese psychologists say symptoms of Internet addiction include being online more than six hours a day -- playing games and looking at pornography rather than working or studying -- and getting angry when unable to get online.

The hospital could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but spokesman Yang Shuyun told the Beijing News newspaper had stopped administering the shock therapy after seeing the ministry's comments.

Shuyun said it was only part of the overall program to treat patients, which also included medicine and psychological counseling. Patients are charged 5,500 yuan ($805) a month.

Computer and Internet use has risen dramatically as China's economy has boomed in recent years, and according to an estimate by China's National People's Congress about 10 percent of the country's under-18 users are addicted to the Internet, although it is not recognized as a clinical condition.

Comments

[bridge to somewhere]

There is "no scientific evidence" for a lot of ridiculous things people say / do / believe / pray to. Never stopped us before!
Shock away!

[lizarazu]

Welcome to the 21st century, China!!!

[Hirnlego]

Long way to go....still

[ChinaJ]

Oh, and Gatermouth, my personal experience is that health care is anything but free in China. Local neighborhood clinics are very inexpensive (like pennies), but for serious procedures or hospitalization, you'd be better off in an EU country, or if Mr. Moore is to be believed, Cuba.

[ChinaJ]

I have had a chance to read some of the original Chinese reporting on this story:

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2009-05-07/085917763520.shtml

It would seem that aversion therapy, rather than ECT was being used here. While it may seem equally ghastly, there is a distinction to be made and the AP has not made it.

Aversion Therapy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aversion_therapy
ECT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy

______________
Trust, but verify

[Billy Hell]

Yeah the headlines make it seem folk were being dragged off kicking, screaming and convulsed with shock treatment.

[ChinaJ]

It would seem that some of the "patients" of Dr. Yang Yongxin (mentioned in the article I cite above) were forcibly subjected to this treatment. I imagine that reporting by China Youth Daily in late April was amongst the factors leading the Chinese gov't to crack down (at least publicly) on this approach to internet addiction.

The headline for the Chinese article cited above

戒网专家电击治网瘾惹争议 多数孩子被强押入院
Internet cessation expert's electro-shock therapy of internet addicts stirs controversy - numerous children forced to participate (rough translation)

[vim876]

Yes. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) saves the lives of people with treatment resistant severe depression. I commented on this earlier, but maybe the filter ate it. Clearly, the side effects make it unsuitable for more moderate depression, and certainly unsuitable for internet addiction. By not specifying that the Chinese were using aversion therapy, HuffPost has added to the cloud of fear and stigma surrounding ECT that prevents many from seeking the life-saving treatment they need. ECT is pretty much painless, as the patient is under full anesthesia. I had ECT a little over a year ago. I still can't remember much of anything that happened for about three years leading up to the treatment. Giving up years of memories for your life is a good trade.

[vim876]

My bad... the BBC is reporting that it was ECT. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/14/china-internet-electric-shock-treatment) I still think the Huffpost needs to distinguish between the voluntary, evidence-based use of such treatment to literally save people's lives, and the (probably coerced) use of such treatment to punish dissidents. Treating a patient for illnesses they don't have is dangerous--and a really bad plan.

[ChinaJ]

I am sorry, but where is the use of ECT "to punish dissidents" mentioned? Anyways, just because the BBC reports ECT, doesn't necessarily make it so. I think the problem may be that aversion therapy 厌恶疗法 is often described as 电休克治疗 (ECT) by Chinese when electrodes are being employed.

I still don't think that forcing kids to be shocked because they use the internet "too much" is a very practical approach. And lets also remember that electrode based aversion therapy has been used (in the United States no less) to "cure" homosexuality. So it is behavior modification with a checkered history, but, it would seem, not ECT and not, in this case, a recourse for the reconditioning of dissidents.

[emerywood]

It is notable that the Chinese government said there was no scientific basis for this form of " therapy ".
I hope they would say the same for herbal medicine which has been practiced in China for thousands of years, leading to nothing but all faith healing. It is better than doing nothing perhaps, but precious time and effort have been wasted for far too long. Maybe this is a new beginning.

[Billy Hell]

The medicinal properties and value of many plant species is well established scientifically and the basis of much western pharmacological medicine.

[wrender]

Sure, China should implement the alopathic system so drug companies, and the medical industry can monopolize health care just like they have in this country. Chinese citizens should be forced to use patented drugs so their money can be funneled into large corporations while at the same time toxifying their bodies with chemicals that lead to long-term damage that require even more drugs to treat.

You obviously don't know anything about herbal medicine. You've been brainwashed into believing the lies of the AMA and the FDA, who clearly go out of their way to make sure people like you think big pharma is the answer, and everything else is quackery. You ought to be just as skeptical of pharmaceutical industry. When money is the prime motive, information suffers due to lack of true objectivity.

[vim876]

Where do you think Big Pharma get their new drugs? Yes, some come out of research, but many come from simply refining plants or other natural materials that have been used for centuries to heal. Also, inclusion of traditional healing techniques in partnership can be extremely helpful in places where people don't trust Westerners or their practices.

[TexasGiant]

I believe chopping off their hands would be more effective.

[Gatormouth]

"Patients are charged 5,500 yuan ($805) a month". And I tought health care in China was essentially free for health care. Wait a bit, I wonder if these "patients" might not be voluntary? Has anybody asked Mr.Shuyun for clarification on this?

[CreekCM]

I don't think this qualifies as health care. O__o

This is so crazy!

[bridge to somewhere]

I'm sure Logitech makes portable USB electro-shock paddles. Very convenient!

[Billy Hell]

Thanks, I had a really good laugh at the vision of self applied "electro-shock paddles" :-)

[SlimPickins79]

i only seeing this working if the electrodes are on the mouse and keyboard....

[jsgaetano]

And besides, they need the shock equipment for political dissidents.

[Gatormouth]

Wow. Those innovative Chinese. If Bushco had only known! Pick some undesirable social "pathology" like being against one or another enlightened Conservative policy or a communication medium that allows them to organize, and apply shock "therapy" or water board "therapy". or a dietary regimen (bread and water, for example") to control the "condition" and attempt a cure. Who could say you were not for public health care? Dick didn't think things out. Those Chinese!

[Billy Hell]

Just as long as they let us pay their people next to nothing so that we can sell the stuff to our own citizens at nice healthy profits, and as long as they open their trade to our massively subsidized agricultural sector, heck yeah we can turn a blind eye.

Anyway, with the main stream media what it is, most folks are lulled into however deep a stupor you want them in and totally open to opinions thrust on them, so who needs those primitive methods.

[janie@atthelake]

Huh??????

[BigAl72]

My words exactly

[Swatantra]

Seems they have an issue against people seeking to satisfy that burning thirst for knowledge
by searching the Internet (The Sum Total Of All Human Knowledge If You Know Where To Find It).

Shock treatments don't work! Damn. There is no hope for me, then.
I remain thoroughly afflicted.

[ChinaJ]

I don't know man, I have been to a lot of internet bars in China. The level of addiction is scary and has even resulted in death. Although I would be more in favor of treating first person shooter addicts first.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/sidebar/909182374/25926280/chinese-man-dies-after-three-day-mmog-binge.html

[bridge to somewhere]

So can we treat shock-therapy addicts with heavy doses of internet exposure?

[IbeHappy]

Just like providing s e .x addicts with companionship.

[nycwerewolf]

Wow they are a backward country. And thanks to Bill Clinton and his selling out our country to them we're stuck having to worry about what they are going to do where the dollar is concerned. They are our greatest threat and people need to wake up to this fact before its too late.

[jsgaetano]

Conservatives sold out to China long ago. Like your hero Nixon, who got the ball rolling.

[Mildmannered]

agree

[truthartbeauty]

religion is the biggest threat to all of humanity, not China

[samuelberg]

What about the estimated 40 million deaths that occurred during Mao Zedong's regime in communist China? What about the 8 million people that died under Lenin's reign as communist leader of Russia. That's just a snapshot of the untold millions that have died or were murdered as a direct result of living under communist rule. I guess as long as the pathways were paved with good intentions, those deaths were not as important as the end result.

[vim876]

Can't you evangelical atheists go get a room with Dawkins somewhere and leave us all alone?