London Opens First Internet Addiction Center for Kids
Kids say the darnedest things, don't they? At least the ones with social skills do. But what about the group of "screenagers" who spend more than six hours a day on the Internet?
For them, London has opened its first clinic designed to treat adolescent Internet addiction. According to London's Evening Standard newspaper, the Capio Nightingale Hospital will treat children who are so hooked on technology their health is at risk.
"Technology addiction is like gambling, you end up with withdrawal symptoms such as agitation," explained Dr. Richard Graham, an expert in child and teen disorders and head of Capio Nightingale's Young Person Technology Addiction Service. "You get hyper-stimulated so you're always on the alert. What we need are official guidelines now on what counts as healthy or unhealthy use of technology."
Children as young as 12 will have to go "cold turkey" in a residential unit to wean them off their compulsion, at which point they would then be taught face-to-face social skills.
"Mental health services need to adapt quickly to the changing worlds that young people inhabit, and understand just how seriously their lives can be impaired by unregulated time online, on-screen, or in-game," Graham added. "We have found that many of the existing services fail to recognize the complexity of these situations, borrowing from older models of addiction and substance misuse."
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Scott88
January 31, 2011 at 5:27pm
There are drug rehabs all over the world that deal with addictions to more than just drugs. They deal with gambling addictions, sex addictions, and internet addictions too. For drug rehabs click here:
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www.drug-rehab.org
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rishabh25.jain
January 22, 2011 at 3:51am
Internet addiction is also a serious problem but it is not as dangerous or harmful as drug addiction. Drug and alcohol addiction is a problem that is too difficult to be handled by the sufferer only. Since addiction is always attacking nerves system, the effect is that the sufferer will always be encouraged to take drugs or alcohol more and more. Actually those people know that alcohol and drugs are bad for themselves but if someone has fallen into addiction, they seem cannot think well and forget about their rationality, all they do is what coming across in their mind. That’s why there is no special medicine that can cure addiction, to reliably cure addiction; the sufferer must join drug and alcohol rehabilitation because they use Ibogaine for treatment of their pateints and it is considered to be very benefecial for the body. It is being used for treating both drug and alcohol addiction. It causes a massive reduction in the symptoms of drug withdrawal, allowing relatively painless detoxification. So, I think Ibogaine Treatment is the one of the best method for the treatment of all typoes of addiction.
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ChanceDwayne
January 06, 2011 at 5:17pm
They say that the children are the future and I believe it is so. But what future can we have with kids that have social anxiety and live only in a virtual world. Because of the advancement in technology, internet addiction treatments are needed for our kids but I can't but feel that it's our fault too, the parents. We can't say NO! to our kids the way our parents did. Although it seemed cruel at the time, now I can realize it was for my own good. If parents these days would start saying NO! to their kids more often, such problems would disappear.
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ferariman
December 17, 2010 at 3:40pm
YOULL NEVER CATCH ME COPPERS! I SPEND 8 HOURS A DAY ON THE INTERNET! WEEHEEHEE!!!
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taby
October 14, 2010 at 7:34am
In my opinion the gambling addiction can be as bad as the drug addiction and it needs some treatment something like drug rehabilitation because like any addiction this is a disease and it should be treated as a disease .
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raducu
October 26, 2010 at 9:10am
I guess this gaming rehab center is one of the most interesting things I ever heard of.I didn't know that kids can be really addicted to computer games.I know that they can turn agressive but never addicted.I hope my child will never become addicted to computer games or anything else.drug rehab Tempe
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banik
October 11, 2010 at 5:15am
According to me one of the best solutions for this is staying away from internet for a considerable period of time that will allow you to eliminate the addiction of the World Wide Web. rehab best
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imp2010
September 27, 2010 at 6:43am
The need for Net addiction centers isn't a new thing. The U.S. got its first such center in August of 2009, and the issue is serious enough in China that not only are there dedicated summer camps there, but Web addiction is a clinically defined illness, as well. Narconon
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taby
September 11, 2010 at 6:02am
I think that the idea of making a center something like a drug rehab Michigan but just for kids with internet addiction seems to be a great one but only if the personal there are serious .
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Shrody
March 22, 2010 at 7:06pm
Children shouldn't be on their computers that much and its up to the parents to enforce those restrictions. The internet is not a good substitute for wholesum family time, as gay as that sounds...
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ThornDawg
March 22, 2010 at 4:24pm
the one reason i can't give up the internet... www.maximumpc.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"You've been Sarge'd" - Sarge Red vs. Blue
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Tenhawk
March 22, 2010 at 3:39pm
Agitation is a symptom? What other signs should we be looking for? Breathing? A Heartbeat?
I really wish people would stop equating dumbass crap to Heroin, which is basically what this bonehead is doing. Gambling, Internet, overeating, etc.... These are not addictions, these are lifestyle CHOICES. People who choose to embrace them beyond all reason obviously screw up their lives, that doesn't make it an addiction.
You know what, I'm just waiting for the first Triple A or Twelve Step program for people who blame their choices on addictions.
I'm 'addicted' to Coca Cola, there is a chemical dependency on Caffeine that develops when you drink enough of it. People can be addicted to Heroin, which frankly needs it's own word cause that shit is serious addiction... but I digress. I, however, have made a lifestyle choice to use technology to a great degree in my daily life. Is said degree too great? Arguably, yes. It's a CHOICE, however.
Now, it is arguable that we grow addicted to the chemical reactions in our brains when we do things we enjoy... but jesus, come on people. Are you really going to argue that free will doesn't exist and we're nothing more than chemical dopers on a lifelong acid trip? If that's the case then who cares where we get our next fix? If we don't have the free will to choose, then there's no point in the universe anyway so screw it all and get doped.
People who try to pare down every choice we make to some invisible hand pushing us through life are, frankly, insulting everything I believe in on a 'spiritual' level. That is, we have free will and it is sacrosanct. Blaming my choices on others or, worse, inanimate objects is just... insulting.
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Espresso77
March 22, 2010 at 7:42am
I would like to see the studies backing up Dr. Graham's claims. I mean seriously. A kid has a toy he likes, you take toy away, and you interpret the agitation as proof of addiction? With this logic I am also addicted to showers with hot water and shoes. If I didn't have either of those, I would be agitated as well.
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Caboose
March 22, 2010 at 8:45am
I'm addicted to food and Oxygen! Take those away and the results are pretty nasty
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
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fragonman
March 22, 2010 at 7:34am
liers both of you (you cant quit)! the internet has a hold of ya!
wow... ive beaten that 6 hour mark into the ground before... mostly with left for dead but still...
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AntiHero
March 22, 2010 at 8:05am
I second that. However, I also don't feel a necessity to be on it. That is what separates addiction to casual user. I can spend 12 hours playing Bad Company 2 online, however I don't HAVE to nor do I feel a need to, so I don't, I just know I could if I got really playing with some friends it. That is where the line needs to be drawn, I'm thinking this study is also in reference to kids who do it every couple of days or so, but still go out and do stuff. I used to play World of Warcraft for 7 hours a day in the winter with my friends, because winters were so god awful we needed a solution.
Now, I do happen to have an Android phone, and it is linked to my work email, one of my personal ones and maybe soon both of my personal ones along with Twitter and it also has the ability to check my Xbox Live messages and MSN Messenger accounts. However, I don't think that constitutes a being dependant on the internet. The work email thing makes more sense than the personal, but the personal is because it's a google phone, and it keeps my contacts and everything there for me.
I don't understand why everyone is so on about the internet usage these days. They're on about kids playing video games for 4 hours a night. Well, if you're one of those kids that happens to get picked on in school too much, even before the games, that is kinda what happens. You go inwards and start becoming less social unless it's anonymous where you can say and do as you please without being hassled. So instead of sending them to a social rehab, find the root cause first. Some people do have a problem with the iternet, some people just have nowhere else to fill their social needs.
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rseding91
March 22, 2010 at 7:00am
I didn't even know I was adicted to the internet!
School, 2 hours 25 minutes
Work, 5 hoursRight there i'm already over the 6 hour limit! and that's not even counting any time I may have after work at home! Here I thought it was just a convenient tool to find any information I ever wanted about anything.. foolish me.
I'll stop right away! Down with convenient knowledge sources and the ability to instantly chat with other people for free!
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Dithuzad
March 22, 2010 at 8:21am
Athlon II X4 605e,HIS Radeon 5850,ASUS M4A79T DELUXE, 4 GB DDR3
i agree all the way, +1 (addictive) internets to you
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Caboose
March 22, 2010 at 8:20am
I just refuse to...
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
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mautzu
October 19, 2010 at 3:53am
internet addiction can be a serious problem but drug addiction is more agresiv and harmful and the best drug rehab i think is in drug rehab center because it involves many things like professional help and faith and good asistance so you can be health again.
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maulu
October 19, 2010 at 6:45am
drug addiction is a serious problem and if you want to quit is hard and need a drug rehab center like Drug rehab Salt Lake City where you can find the professional help you need and the faith to stop taking drugs.
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atanusunt
October 19, 2010 at 8:53am
drugs are a serious problem in our tims and for a a forever recovery we need a serious and trained team of doctors and psychologists to avoid relapse.

















