Many Tufts students have difficulty tearing themselves away from the Internet to do homework, but for those truly addicted to online media, a new clinic in Redmond, Wash. claims to have the answer. The clinic's existence highlights the complex issues associated with the growing problem of Internet addiction.
The reSTART Internet Addiction and Recovery Program opened its doors in July and "is designed specifically to help Internet and video game addicts overcome their dependence on gaming, gambling, chatting, texting and other aspects of Internet Addiction," according to a press release. The clinic is not a minor commitment, however, as it runs for 45 days, costs $14,500 to enroll and is not covered by insurance.
Patients enrolled in reSTART are taught how to find a balance with technology in their lives. The program "is structured to include individual and group therapy, life-skills coaching, cooperative living, physical and nutritional education, mindfulness training, work and home-maintenance skill-building, 12-step meetings and weekly, off-site, high-adventure expeditions," according to the press release. The reSTART Web site, www.netaddictionrecovery.com, offers a quiz for users to see if they are "Internet Addicted."
ReSTART recently enrolled its first patient: Ben Alexander, a 19-year-old World of Warcraft (WoW) player who flunked out of the University of Iowa due to his addiction to the popular online fantasy game. Students at Tufts have had similar problems with this game in the past, as reported earlier by the Daily. WoW has over 11.5 million monthly subscribers, and according to a recent press release by media tracking firm Nielsen, the average WoW player plays for around 17 hours a week.
Senior Gina Sultan, a psychology major, noted that even though Internet addicts are a different type of "addict" than substance abusers, Internet addiction can be highly damaging nonetheless.
"Addictions aren't confined to tangible things like drugs and alcohol," Sultan said. "An addiction to something like the Internet can be just as serious, especially considering the extent that addictive behavior is psychologically damaging and can interfere with a person's daily life."
Ming Chow (E ‘02) teaches the Experimental College course "Introduction to Game Development" in the spring semester. In an e-mail, Chow called the issue of online game addiction "a growing problem," adding, "Although the problems are out there, I am not too sure how successful the clinic will be. Time will tell."
Chow cited several true stories of people literally gaming themselves to death after multi-day online gaming marathons, as well as instances of divorces caused by non-stop online game-playing as the most extreme consequences of addiction to online games.
Although reSTART may be the first clinic of its kind in the United States, Internet addiction "boot camps" are commonplace in China, Taiwan and South Korea. According to the reSTART Web site, "Both China and South Korea have designated Internet Addiction as their number one public health danger."
Still, not all of the recent news about treatment of Internet addicts in foreign countries has been positive. Hundreds of unlicensed Internet addiction boot camps have sprung up in China, and last month, several counselors were arrested at one such camp after a 15-year-old boy was beaten to death only hours following his arrival. A similar incident occurred around the same time at another camp, where a 14-year-old boy was hospitalized for kidney failure after an alleged beating.
In July, China's health ministry banned the use of electric shock therapy to treat Internet addicts, citing lack of evidence that electric shock therapy is effective in treating the addiction. A hospital in the eastern Shandong province used the procedure on about 3,000 Internet addicted youths over a four-month period before the government intervened.
Despite the damage Internet addiction can inflict on those affected and their families, Internet addiction is not currently recognized as a clinical disorder. The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the manual used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental illness, does not list Internet addiction as a psychiatric disorder. However, the manual's current fourth edition was published in 1994. The fifth edition is scheduled for publication in May 2012, and there is a push by some members of the psychiatric community for the inclusion of Internet addiction in the manual.
However, not all are in agreement that Internet addiction is an independent mental illness. In a recent paper published in the digital journal "Psychiatry," School of Medicine professor Dr. Ron Pies argued that Internet addiction, though potentially devastating, could be a symptom of other clinically recognized disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, rather than its own psychiatric disorder. Pies noted that, "Notwithstanding the impressive research on [internet addiction] emerging from Asia, I do not believe that what is termed internet addiction reaches the threshold of specific disease entity."
Pies suggests that the term "Pathological Use of Electronic Media (PUEM)" be used in place of the term Internet addiction for now.
"PUEM would permit incorporation of problems related to new electronic technologies without endlessly multiplying psychiatric diagnoses," Pies said.
"I believe our patients will benefit in the long run by a conservative approach to both diagnosis and treatment of PUEM-like behavior," he continued. "This should be accompanied by rapid development of uniform diagnostic criteria and a vigorous research effort aimed at understanding the nature of this condition."
