This is one intervention you wouldn't want staged on you. You know how there are now rehab centers for gaming addicts? Well, China's got those too, and you'd be terrified to land in there if you were the patient. As it turns out, a certain clinic in Linyi, Shandong province administers electro shock therapy for Internet addicts. Don't worry, though, the Ministry of Health has already ordered a halt to it.
Does not hurt. Really.
Said the report:
More than 3,000 young people were tricked or forced into in to the four-month long course. To enroll their children, parents or guardians had to sign a contract acknowledging that they would be given electric shocks of up to 200 milliamperes. The treatment cost 6,000 yuan ($878) per month...
Shocks were given if patients broke any of the center’s 86 rules, which included prohibitions on eating chocolate, locking the bathroom door, taking pills before a meal, and sitting in Dr. Yang's chair without permission.
Details of the treatment first became public when former patients wrote about their experiences online...
Kong Lingzhong, editor for a local Internet addiction-themed portal said to Beijing News, "We have no clue whether this freaky treatment has side effects." Yeah, we're guessing they do.
