A clinic for treating patients with an online gaming addiction has opened in China.
A clinic, officially licensed by the Chinese Government, for treating online gaming addictions has opened in China. Patients are mostly aged 14 to 24 and are treated by a staff of 23 nurses and doctors. The primary cause of the patients' addiction is said to be the pressure from parents for their children to do well at school, resulting in the child turning to online gaming to relieve the pressure.
"All the children here have left school because they are playing games or in chat rooms every day," said Dr. Tao Ran. "They are suffering from depression, nervousness, fear and unwillingness to interact with others, panic and agitation. The also have sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands."
Daily treatment begins at 6am with therapy, medication, acupuncture and exercise. Patients also receive nerve-end stimulation and are intravenously fed a liquid to "adjust the unbalanced status of brain secretions."
The clinic costs $48 a day, with treatment usually lasting 10-15 days.
"As the number of Netizens grows, the number of addicted people will grow as well, but we should not worry about the issue too much," said Kuang Wenbo, a professor of mass media.
"The young men at the age of growing up have their own problems. Even if there was no Internet they would get addicted to other things."
