Chinese Health Ministry Halts Electric Shock Therapy to Net Addicts

The Health Ministry of China has ended the practice of electric shock therapy for Internet addiction at a Linyi Mental Health Hospital.

In Beijing Monday, the Chinese Health Ministry order Linyi Mental Health Hospital to cease electric shock therapy for youths who are addicted to the internet. So far the hospital, which is in eastern Shandong province, has treated 3,000 young people, according to Yang Yongxin, a psychiatrist at the mental health facility. The Health Ministry said in a statement on a website Monday, “There is no domestic or international clinical evidence that electric shock therapy helps cure Internet addiction.” Electric shock therapy, according to most studies in China, is most often used to treat serious depression. The two biggest symptoms of Internet addiction, according to Chinese psychologists, is being online for more than six hours a day playing video games or looking at pornography instead of working or doing schoolwork and becoming enraged if he or she cannot gain access to the internet. Electric shock therapy, according to spokesman Yang Shuyun, is just only part of an overall medicine and psychological counseling. To date, patients at Linyi Mental Health Hospital are charged 5,500 Chinese Yuan ($805) per month.