Quit net addiction and reSTART your life
POSTED September 8, 2009 - 17:14 | POSTED BY Kangna Agarwal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on September 8, 2009 - 18:37
Operational since July, the center is spread over an area of 5 acres in the Fall City, about 30 miles east of Seattle. It has a provision to treat 6 patients, who will be made to attend psychotherapy sessions, exercise, spend time outdoors and cook for themselves.
“We’ve been doing this for years on an outpatient basis,” said Hilarie Cash, a therapist and executive director of the center. “Up until now, we had no place to send them.”
Cash said that as Internet is pervasive and difficult to resist, nothing can be said about the success of such programs.
Ben Alexander-the only patient of the center
Ben Alexander, 19, student at the University of Iowa, is the only patient of the center so far. He got expelled from his university as he used to spend every waking minute of his life in playing the videogame, ‘World of Warcraft’ and got sucked right in.
“At first it was a couple of hours a day,” he said. “By midway through the first semester, I was playing 16 or 17 hours a day.”
“School wasn’t interesting,” he further said. “It was an easy way to socialize and meet people.”
Alexander arrived in Fall City somewhere in July and he considers it a good choice. Now, his entire day is spent in counseling and psychotherapy sessions, doing household chores, working on the grounds, going on outings, exercising and baking ginger cookies.
“I don’t think I’ll go back to `World of Warcraft’ anytime soon,” Alexander said.
Internet addiction has serious implications
Experts say that Internet addiction is real and harmful and can be a symptom of mental illness like depression or autism. From loss of job, broken marriages to car accidents, the effects of Internet addiction are very serious.
Experts say that Internet-addicts are not able to sleep properly. They don't eat well and don't exercise enough. Thus they miss out on the overall development of their personalities.
Dr. Ronald Pies, professor of psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York said, “From what we know, many so-called `Internet addicts’ are folks who have severe depression, anxiety disorders, or social phobic symptoms that make it hard for them to live a full, balanced life and deal face-to-face with other people.”
“It may be that unless we treat their underlying problems, some new form of `addiction’ will pop up down the line,” Pies further said.
There is also a debate going on whether internet addiction should be treated as a separate illness disorder. But the American Psychiatric Association does not recognize it as a separate disorder.
