While visiting Houston for work and relaxing in my hotel room, I turn on the TV and come across a very interesting documentary on PBS about internet addiction treatment centers for adolescents in China.
Boot camps, that is.
This particular treatment center is apparently officially backed by the Chinese government and run by a branch of the military. The kids are brought by their parents, most of them forcefully and under false pretenses, and must remain at the facilities for a minimum of three months. Their internet addiction is treated like any serious drug addiction-intense individual/group/family therapy sessions, physical conditioning, and isolation techniques if the individual shows resistance to the treatment. All done with the explicit intent of breaking the individual's defences and dependence on the computer while attempting to get them to engage socially on a physical rather than virtual method.
Some of the kids featured in this documentary were severely addicted to the internet, some bragging about staying online playing World of Warcraft 300 hours non-stop. Many kids would be in denial of their addiction and its effects on them and their families. It is truly amazing how their addiction to the internet mirrored any given drug addiction...alcohol, cocaine, meth, you name it.
I considered internet addiction a phenomenon. I'm starting to consider it a disease.
During a particular family therapy session the counselor identified trust issues between a kids and his parents. The father said he was particularly tough on this kid's, threatening him andsometimes beating him. She made a statement that cut deep into the reason for this kid's behavior issues: "fear...is the basis of distrust."
It's amazing to watch these children's show typical withdrawal symptoms and behaviors, such as denial, defiance, withdrawal, and isolation.
For one particular teen followed in this documentary, he showed I the end a glimmer of hope and possible understanding of the depth of his affliction but the documentary ends there and doesn't say how he turned out. Thankfully I can find out more about this program online at PBS.org; I'll update this blog with more info once I come across it.
As for my personal opinion on these types of treatment options, I cannot say I agree or disagree with them. As with most types of situations, it depends on the severity of the problem at hand. I will say this is a very novel way of treating internet addiction that might be worth looking into and perhaps implementing here in the U.S., if it isn't already available here.
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