First American Internet Addiction Treatment Center 278
An anonymous reader writes "Taking their lead from China, two Americans have opened the first US-based Internet Addiction treatment center in Fall City, Wash. — ironically close to Redmond (Microsoft's hometown). The center, called reStart: Internet Addiction Recovery Program, is a 45-day treatment center where, for a steep set of fees, people can be cured of their addiction to the Web. After paying the $200 application fee, addicts are charged $14,500 for the 45 days, an additional $800 for a screening, and more for extra services, like kayaking ($1,575)."
I wonder if... (Score:1, Insightful)
I wonder if the beatings are free, or if you pay extra for that?
money (Score:5, Insightful)
it very well sounds like the goal here isn't so much to actually "treat" people so much as to make large sums of money by catering to those of us who have access to lots of cash.
Re:Forgive me if I'm skeptical (Score:4, Insightful)
I never said that they couldn't open a clinic without a having a medical degree... All I was saying is that I wouldn't trust those people as far as I could throw them to help others with their addictions.
I mean, they didn't even include a quote from the starters with why they do what they do...
Re:money (Score:3, Insightful)
Odd (Score:5, Insightful)
It's odd how they've conveniently changed the meaning of "addiction". The definition used to be that for something to be addictive, it had to have physical withdrawal symptoms, like alcohol, caffiene, niccotine, heroin, etc. What used to be separately termed "habituation" is now termed "addiction".
However, as I learned when quitting cigarettes, the habituation can be as bad as the addiction. Two years after I stopped, and didn't even WANT a cigarette, I still slapped the shirt pocket that used to hold the cigarettes when I left work. Do anything for thirty years and you'll miss it, even if "it" is being hit on the head with a stick.
Re:money (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it needs to be made more clear to the older generation that, no matter how much they don't like it, the fact is that the day is rapidly approaching when the person who doesn't spend *enough* time on the Internet will be the socially dysfunctional one.
Re:Internet Addition = Pornography Addition (Score:3, Insightful)
Rather than focus on pornography, or even the Internet, I would focus more on addictive behaviors in general. Some people are simply more prone to addiction than others, and will become addicted to any number of things. Organizations like AA claim to beat addiction, but what they really do is redirect the addiction to less harmful (in theory) pursuits. So, many recovering addicts become heavy coffee drinkers, or heavy smokers, or get really big into religion (God addiction?).
A particular "XYZ Addiction" program may be useful to XYZ addicts because it puts them in with a group of people suffering from the same addiction, and maybe they can draw some support from each other. The ultimate goal of any of them, though, is simply to try and redirect the addictive tendencies toward less harmful addictions.
Re:Odd (Score:3, Insightful)
I also think it is odd how low the bar seems to be for categorizing non-destructive actions as "addictive". Using the Internet is not a harmful activity. You can surf the net plenty, and suffer no ill effects in terms of health, family, job, etc. While you certainly can go overboard and start doing it at the exclusion of everything else in your life, well you can do that for ANYTHING in your life. However the activity isn't harmful in and of itself, even in large amounts (unlike, say, drinking alcohol which will hurt you if done heavily).
However for some reason there seems to be a lot of people that want to classify heavy Internet use or gaming as "addiction." "Oh that guy goes home and plays Warcraft for 4 hours a day after work! He's addicted! Now if you'll excuse me I have to go watch 4 hours of TV, like a normal person." Just because a person likes to goof off a lot on the Internet, doesn't make that goofing off any more problematic than any other recreation. One of the nice things for many people living in a first world nation is that you have a lot of time to amuse yourself since your more basic needs are taken care of.
I think part of the problem is what you are on to is the reclassification as these things as "addiction." Now that they are addictions, they get evaluated with that standard. Well if someone comes home every day and drinks alcohol continuously for hours and then passes out, yes, they have a problem, they are almost certainly addicted to it. However that is very different from coming home and spending hours on a hobby.
Re:Internet Addition = Pornography Addition (Score:2, Insightful)
Hey Stalin, ever heard of the first amendment?
Re:Internet Addition = Pornography Addition (Score:2, Insightful)
Seumas said: They should have a service like this for religious people. So, in his world, if you're a religious person (any kind - he didn't add any qualifiers), you get put in a "treatment center". That sure sounds like prohibiting free exercise to me.
Re:Internet Addition = Pornography Addition (Score:4, Insightful)
We're all pretty much guessing here, so I will present my best educated guess. IANAPsychologist, I only took Psych classes to get chicks...
First of all, just because someone spends a lot of time doing one thing, that does not make them an addict. To be addicted to something, you have to feel drawn to it against your will, it must be an overwhelming urge. You know the old saying "I can quit any time I want, just not today"... that's addiction! If the very idea of stopping is a stressful thought, it's addiction. If you play WoW 16 hours a day because you enjoy it, and have nothing better to do, it's just a perfectly normal hobby. Have fun and please don't grief me!
If a person is truly addicted to something, drugs/sex/internet/anything, to a degree where it can be considered harmful, chances are the obsessive behaviour is a way to escape some stressful element in their life. Addiction is a symptom, a coping mechanism. You don't treat the symptom, you treat the cause.
A few years ago, one would have said I was addicted to WoW. I played it 16 hours a day, did almost nothing else. I wasn't addicted to a game, I was burnt out from a soulless job, broke and depressed out of my skull; the game was a way to shunt that negativity aside and keep from going batshit insane. It provided the cheap on-demand gratification I needed to stay out of the dumps, and by that definition it was successful. It floated me through a few rough months and gave me time to deal with my issues.
In light of that, I believe these so-called internet addiction camps can only cause more harm. To charge that amount of money, for what equates to six weeks of adult summer camp, is to prey on the weak. It does not address the underlying problem at all. An "internet addict" would be better served by a psychologist/therapist, and for that kind of money you could see your therapist twice weekly for a whole year, which is extreme overkill. You'll probably be cured after a dozen sessions or so, but "cure" isn't the right word, I prefer "empowered", because the change has to come from within. A therapist helps you map out the path, but you have to take that step toward self-respect and self-control.