China Bans Shock Treatment For Internet Addiction

angry tapir writes "China has banned the use of shock therapy to treat Internet addiction after its use at one hospital sparked nationwide controversy. The hospital drew wide media coverage in recent months after Internet users claiming to have received the treatment wrote in blogs and forums about being tied down and subjected to shocks for 30 minutes at a time."

Comments

Re:Chinese "Nationwide Controversy?"

[maeka]

Does China even have such a thing as "nationwide controvery"? Or is the "nation" here the United States? Or maybe Canada?

I'll chalk this one up to western ignorance over how much the Chinese public actually knows, not blatant bias.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal#Chinese_public

Re:Doesn't hurt them?

[GungaDan]

The most prevalent "shock therapy" currently in use in the US is electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). It is used to treat major depression that is not responsive to drugs. It has nothing to do with retrieving or "erasing" memories, only with zapping the brain in hopes that neurochemical imbalances will be alleviated during its recovery from the trauma (shock), and hopefully for some time after.