BEIJING: China could become the first country to classify Internet addiction as a clinical disorder amid growing concern over compulsive Web use by millions of Chinese, state media said yesterday.
The Health Ministry may adopt a new manual on Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) next year that recognises it as a condition like compulsive gambling or alcohol addiction, the China Daily reported.
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The newspaper cited Dr Tao Ran, a leading professional on pathological addictions in China, who drafted the diagnostic manual with his psychologist colleagues in the Military General Hospital of Beijing.
The manual's acceptance by the ministry means it would become a guideline in all the major hospitals in China.
Symptoms of IAD, according to the manual, include persistent yearning to go online, mental or physical distress, irritation as well as difficulty in concentrating or getting to sleep.
'A person must show at least one of these symptoms over the past three months and spend at least six hours online a day to be diagnosed as an addict,' said Dr Tao.
The clinical yardsticks were arrived at after a study of more than 1,300 problematic computer users.
China has the world's largest online population at 253 million people, and the figure is growing rapidly. Given such a high number, compulsive Internet use has become a big social issue.
A top Chinese legislator said in August that about 10 per cent of Web users under the age of 18, or four million people, were addicted to the Internet, mainly to 'unhealthy' online games.
Recent research by Internet media company InterActiveCorp shows that 42 per cent of Chinese youngsters polled felt 'addicted' to the Web, compared to 18 per cent in the United States.
In fact, Web addiction has become a major factor behind crime among youths, with 76 per cent of juvenile offences in the capital city of Beijing related to the Internet, said Dr Tao.
But the disease is curable, said the psychologist, pointing to his hospital's success in helping many Web addicts get rid of their affliction in under six months, using methods such as social therapy.
'Web games are the biggest culprit for Internet-related crimes in China, especially World of Warcraft, which has made many young minds unable to tell the real from virtual world,' the Xinhua News Agency quoted Dr Kong Derong, a psychologist from a hospital in central Henan Province, as saying.
'The manual would make society realise the seriousness of the IAD problem and offer patients scientific ways of tackling it,' she added.
But Ms Yue Huiqing, judge at a juvenile court in Beijing, fears that the manual, with its less stringent yardsticks than those unofficial ones in the West, would make it too easy for a young Web user to be labelled an 'addict', thus inflicting an unnecessary psychological scar.
'We should try to avoid easy stigmatising as some attachment to Internet is inevitable in the growth of many Chinese youths,' Ms Yue told the Legal Daily.
China's government has tried various measures to regulate the booming online gaming market and curb Web usage by teens. In 2006, it ordered all Chinese Internet game manufacturers to install technology in their games that ensures players reveal their real names and identification numbers.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, XINHUA
