DOCTORS here are warning of a sharp rise in the number of young people addicted to the Internet, with the most severe cases needing hospitalisation to wean them off the web.

Psychiatrists in the Institute of Mental Health and the National University Hospital treat a new addict every month and expect the numbers to go up.

A similar trend was noted by five psychologists in private practice reporting a 30 per cent increase from about five years ago.

Read Tan Weizhen's full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.