via news.com.auTHE 12 teenagers and young adults, some in ripped jeans and baggy T-shirts, sit in a circle, chewing gum and fidgeting as they shyly introduce themselves."I'm 12 years old," one boy says with a smile. "I love playing computer games. That's it."
Another boy, five years older with spiky hair, adds: "It's been good to sleep."
The youths are patients at China's first officially licensed clinic for internet addiction, a downside of the online frenzy that has accompanied the nation's breathtaking economic boom.
Their days begin at 6am on a machine that stimulates nerve impulses with 30V charges to pressure points. Other treatments include receiving a clear fluid through intravenous drips to "adjust the unbalanced status of brain secretions".
The youths usually stay 10 to 15 days, at $48 a day - a high price in a country where the average city dweller's weekly income is just $20.
"All the children here have left school because they are playing games or in chatrooms everyday," the clinic's director Dr Tao Ran said.
"They suffer from depression, nervousness, fear and unwillingness to interact with others, panic and agitation. They also have sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands."
According to government figures, China has the world's second-largest online population - 94 million - after the US. Authorities have regularly shut down thousands of internet cafes - many illegally operated - in crackdowns that also include huge fines for their operators.
Dr Tao's government-owned clinic occupies the top floor of a two-storey building on a quiet, tree-lined street on the sprawling campus of the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital.
A dozen nurses and 11 doctors care for the patients, mostly youths aged 14 to 24 who have lost sleep, weight and friends after countless hours in front of the computer, often playing video games with others online.
Some come voluntarily, while others are checked in by their parents. Many of the patients say they went online to escape day-to-day stress, especially pressure from parents to excel in school.
Some can't stop playing games, while the older ones are addicted to online chats with the opposite sex. Others pour all their efforts into designing violent games.
Dr Tao, a psychiatrist for 20 years who specialises in treating addiction, estimates that up to 2.5 million Chinese suffer from internet addiction, although others are sceptical. He says the long-term effects of treatment are generally successful, but it's not easy to stop patients from again giving in to internet temptation.
Says a youth from Beijing: "It would be hard to give it up completely. I'll take it step by step."
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