The Chinese government has just announced that electric shock therapy is no longer to be used as a treatment for youngsters who are apparently addicted to the Internet, as there is no scientific evidence to back up claims that it actually works.
“Electroshock therapy for Internet addiction has no foundation in clinical research or evidence and therefore is not appropriate for clinical application,” the Chinese Ministry of Health posted on their website.
China has the largest internet population in the world and Internet addiction in China has been officially classified as a mental illness since November 2008.
Over the past year or so, the Chinese government have been actively campaigning against what they see as an increasingly unhealthy attitude towards the Internet by young people.
Youngsters are spending more and more time in Web Bars (Internet Cafés) and playing online games which they believe is affecting their education and their relationships within the family.
There had been a lot of criticism in the Chinese press recently regarding China’s use of electric shock therapy as part of a treatment programme for internet addiction after reports that 3000 teenagers were given electric shock treatment by one psychiatrist in an attempt to cure them of their addictive behaviour.
Doctor Yang Yongxin, also known as Uncle Yang, developed the ‘electric impact therapy’ to use at his boot camp, the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre at Linyi Mental Hospital in the Eastern Chinese Province of Shandong.
The youngsters are also fed psychotropic drugs and undergo counselling as part of their ‘treatment’.
China is renowned for its strict views on education and parents have very high expectations and worry that their child won’t have the best opportunities in life if they don’t knuckle down and get on with their studies.
Consequently some parents are prepared to take drastic action if they see their child’s future threatened by apparent Internet addiction including sending them off to Dr Yongxin’s boot camp by force.
Parents will have to stump up almost 5,500 Yuan a month, which equates to around $805 or £494 every month.
Parents also have to sign an agreement giving the clinic guardianship for the four months treatment where the children are effectively ‘punished’ for their behaviour by way of electric currents being passed through their bodies, drugs and no contact with the outside world for the duration of their stay.
Shocking to say the least!
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well,i think is good for chinese web,I’m come from china
我认为利大于弊，在中国网络对青少年一代的影响太大了，网络上充斥着各种信息，这个软件有利于家长进行管理，也利于青少年的发展。
Wow. I didn’t even know they were doing that in the first place. That’s harsh.