Clinic for internet addicts opens in US

If you have to take a quick break from reading this article to send a text message or check your Blackberry, then the good news is that help is at hand.

A new centre for cyberspace addicts has opened in the US city of Seattle. It claims to be America’s first residential centre for people addicted to the internet and video games. For $14,000, six people at a time can spend 45 days fighting against their constant need to connect to the internet. Residents are given counselling and psychotherapy, as well as group activities such as household chores, walks in the grounds and exercising.

The centre, in the countryside about 50km outside Seattle, is the idea of therapist Hilarie Cash. She recorded her first case of cyberspace addiction in 1994, with a patient so glued to video games that he lost his marriage and two jobs. But until this summer she had only met patients on a day-by-day basis. Cash points out that although countries such as China, South Korea and Taiwan have places where internet addicts can find help, America has been slow to recognise the problem.

Ben Alexander, 19, was one of the centre’s first residents. He became addicted to the video game World of Warcraft, which took up most of his time awake. He started playing the game when he was a new student at Iowa University. “At first it was a couple of hours a day. By midway through the first semester, I was playing 16 or 17 hours a day,” he said.

By comparison to the whizz-bang on the screen in front of him, the social life at university seemed very boring. He came to see the game as an “easy way to socialise and meet people.” Alexander eventually left the university and found help with his gaming problem. “I don’t think I’ll go back to World of Warcraft any time soon,” he said.

Lead researcher Dr Gavin Sandercock said he was surprised (4) how rarely students showered.