No ‘rehab camps’ for China net addicts

Fri,06 Nov 2009 07:15 GMT -4:00 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/30668

- An illegal “rehabilitation camp” for ‘net addicts’ was closed and 13 workers, including its president, were arrested after a 15-year-old Deng Senshan (right) died, said in August, quoting China Daily.

“In photographs shown to China Daily, Deng’s body is pictured with bruises and his face is covered in blood,” says the story.

Now a “front-line advocate of treating Internet addiction” says “net addicts” should be taken to “qualified health institutions rather than rehab camps,” says China state news agency Xinhua.

China’s Ministry of Health has been soliciting public opinions on a draft guidance to juveniles on Internet use, says the story, which has Tao Ran, “initiator of the definition on Internet addiction and director of the country’s first Internet addiction clinic under the Beijing Military Command General Hospital,” stating:

“Internet addiction is a disease, which can not be cured by military training or physical punishment.”

According to Tao, the health ministry has”adopted the expression of ‘inappropriate use of Internet’ instead of ‘Internet addiction, saying that its precise definition had not been settled yet, and going on:

“The guidance is a strong signal that the ministry has recognized Internet addiction as a mental disease, even it doesn’t call it ‘Internet addiction’ in a straight way.

“It’s dangerous that the treatment market is in a total mess. We need standards and guidelines.”

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More

– Teen dies in China net addiction camp, August 27, 2009

China Daily – Camp closed, 13 detained over death of teenage Net addict, August 10, 2009

Xinhua – Expert calls for standardized treatment for Net addicts, November 5, 2009




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