Rehab staff 'killed web addict'

A warning to us all.

A Chinese teenager sent to an internet addiction rehabilitation camp has allegedly been beaten to death by its counsellors, according to reports.

A number of employees of the Qihang Salvation Training Camp in Nanning have been arrested over the death, his father Deng Fei told the Global Times.

The camp had promised to put Deng Senshan, 15, under 24-hour supervision.

China is increasingly taking action against what it sees as a pandemic of web addiction.

Some estimates suggest up to 10% of the country's 100 million teenage web users could be addicted, and a growing number of rehabilitation services exist.

However, there is little consensus on how to treat the addiction. In July, China's Ministry of Health formally banned the use of electroshock therapy as a treatment option.

According to the China Daily newspaper, an agreement the teenagers' parents signed with the camp said: "The centre can take necessary approaches including punishment to educate the teenager, as long as the approaches will not abuse the child or impair his health."

Camp staff are alleged to have put the teenager in solitary confinement on Saturday and then beaten him that evening.

My emphasis.

China: Look! We cured him!

This probably has to do with China not liking its people getting ideas about freedom from the rest of the world. And the Internet is very much access to radical ideas, like having sex with animals.

Did you know they have their own DVD region code?

But... but as far as I understand it, ECT works for depression rather than addictions anyway.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This probably has to do with China not liking its people getting ideas about freedom from the rest of the world. And the Internet is very much access to radical ideas, like having sex with animals.

Bestiality! Radical! Modern! Liberating! The American way!

I'm guessing there's more bestiality in China than in America, because there are more lonely teenage farm boys with nothing better to do.

saeku wrote:

because there are more lonely teenage farm boys with nothing better to do.

And fewer girls. Just sayin'.

Lexin wrote:

A warning to us all.

Yeah, to not go to China, I guess.

Lexin wrote:

According to the China Daily newspaper, an agreement the teenagers' parents signed with the camp said: "The centre can take necessary approaches including punishment to educate the teenager, as long as the approaches will not abuse the child or impair his health."

Doesn't death impair your health?

ZoZo wrote:

But... but as far as I understand it, ECT works for depression rather than addictions anyway.

It does work for some addictions, actually. Very, very severe OCD that's unresponsive to other forms of treatment is sometimes treated with ECT, although that is usually an absolutely last resort.

Of course, "internet addiction" isn't exactly listed in the DSM, but that's another story altogether...

Lady Anne wrote:

Doesn't death impair your health?

Well, you'll never need another pill.

And it does wonders for your health insurance premiums. I knew a guy who died, and his health insurance dropped to $0.00 a month.

ZoZo wrote:

But... but as far as I understand it, ECT works for depression rather than addictions anyway.

Nowadays, ECT is only used for cases of severe depression that don't respond to medication or therapy. My family knew a couple where the husband suffered from bouts of untreatable depression that essentially rendered him unable to function and could stretch on for months. ECT was the measure of last resort-as his wife once told my sister, it was sort of like the electroshock reset his brain back to normal. Then he'd be okay for a a year (sometimes longer), then it would come back and they'd have to do it again.

And it's not without its dangers. He's in his 60s now and suffering from early onset Alzheimers, which his doctors freely admit could easily have been caused by the ECT. On the other hand, if they hadn't done the ECT, he would've most likely had to be institutionalized because he was completely unable to function. The only thing that ever brought him out of the depressive episodes was the electroshock.

Thankfully, cases like that are rare. I've never heard of using ECT to treat any other condition besides severe intractable depression. Of course, this IS China we're talking about, so it's almost a given they're going to have trouble with the idea of ' patient's rights.'

The rehab has a pretty solid point in its favor. He's not addicted to the internet anymore, now is he?

Narwhal wrote:

The rehab has a pretty solid point in its favor. He's not anymore, now is he?

Fix'd.

Chaltab wrote:

And it does wonders for your health insurance premiums. I knew a guy who died, and his health insurance dropped to $0.00 a month.

Holy shit, how do I qualify?

Psy-4 wrote:

Chaltab wrote:

And it does wonders for your health insurance premiums. I knew a guy who died, and his health insurance dropped to $0.00 a month.

Holy shit, how do I qualify?

Just send your name, address, and your best insults to Cyberwulf, she'll be glad to sort that out for you.

Also, I agree with the whole "web addiction is less of a problem then it is considered to be." dealie.

Now, if you excuse me, I need to go heavily medicate myself in order to get over the pains I'm in for missing you guys.

I'll be back Monday. I hope.

This.

Now, see, I was wondering how the solitary confinement factors into it. I know that psych hospitals sometimes have rooms to put out of control patients in, but I can't think of a reasonable scenario where it would be needed for internet addicts.

But somehow, I don't really trust China's mental health system to be reasonable.

Hey, I spend like, fourteen hours a day on this computer, and I'm definitely not addicted.

Nobody asked you.

Chaltab wrote:

And it does wonders for your health insurance premiums. I knew a guy who died, and his health insurance dropped to $0.00 a month.

Not always! I knew a guy who died, and the insurance company was after him for years to pay back the medical bills he'd racked up.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This probably has to do with China not liking its people getting ideas about freedom from the rest of the world. And the Internet is very much access to radical ideas, like having sex with animals.

Or it could have to do with the fact that these kind of rehab clinics are extremely susceptible to system abuse even in the U.S., especially when they're teen rehab clinics. Didn't we have a story relating as much a few months ago?

Having a psych teacher who visits China every year and enjoys seeing how many foreign (to China) websites he can access while he's there, I can attest that they do keep a short leash on connections over there. But this isn't a story about that kind of limitation, it's a story about a corrupt psych institution. It'd be the same if he had been in for alcohol or drugs or anything else.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

Did you know they have their own DVD region code?

So does the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and just about every other region with DVDs. Your point?

Delcat wrote:

Having a psych teacher who visits China every year and enjoys seeing how many foreign (to China) websites he can access while he's there, I can attest that they do keep a short leash on connections over there. But this isn't a story about that kind of limitation, it's a story about a corrupt psych institution. It'd be the same if he had been in for alcohol or drugs or anything else.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

Did you know they have their own DVD region code?

So does the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and just about every other region with DVDs. Your point?

The U.S. and Canada don't have their own region codes. God, it would be horrible if that were true.

They share a region code, is what I mean to say. Sorry. Still.

Snoof wrote:

Chaltab wrote:

And it does wonders for your health insurance premiums. I knew a guy who died, and his health insurance dropped to $0.00 a month.

Not always! I knew a guy who died, and the insurance company was after him for years to pay back the medical bills he'd racked up.

Don't they know zombies can't hold decent jobs? They keep eating their co-workers.

Delcat wrote:

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

Did you know they have their own DVD region code?

So does the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and just about every other region with DVDs. Your point?

The point is that the UK shares a region code with the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Greenland and South Africa (the country), America shares its code with Canada, all of South and Central America and Austrailia share a region code, much of Asia and Russia shares a code with most of Africa, parts of the Eastern islands around and including Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea have a code - but China is the only COUNTRY that has a region code ALL TO ITSELF.