Except for addiction expert He Rihui, the entire medical community is silent, and no relevant organization has spoken out, which is very sad. I feel sad for my friends who suffered in Yang Yongxin’s place. From the public account of addiction expert He Rihui, I saw a series of articles he wrote about Internet addiction and Yang Yongxin. The analysis is very thorough.

"Yang Yongxin, why haven't you been treated yet? 》

A few days ago, I pushed a post titled "Yang Yongxin, why haven't you been treated yet" on Rihui Psychology (WeChat ID: R?H "After the article, many readers and friends have come to inquire about issues related to Internet addiction treatment. Today I will give a unified reply to several major questions raised by many of them.

Is there such a disease as "Internet addiction"?

I think it exists.

Not only me, but many researchers in the medical field also initially believe that "Internet addiction" does exist.

Yes, there has always been controversy in domestic and foreign academic circles about whether "Internet addiction" is a disease and its diagnostic criteria. There are mainly two schools of opinion.

· ? One group of people believes that there is no such mental disease as "Internet addiction". The so-called "Internet addiction" teenagers are just forced by too much pressure from reality and escape to the Internet to seek comfort. To put it simply, it is behavioral problems.

· ?The other group believes that this kind of mental illness does exist. Because from the perspective of psychiatric diagnostic standards, some "Internet addicted" teenagers do meet the diagnostic standards for psychiatric-related symptoms. Personally, I am more inclined to this school.

The picture shows the "American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V)"

What are the diagnostic criteria? Interested readers can search for Professor Tao Ran's academic papers online. To put it simply, several conditions must be met to be diagnosed as Internet addiction.

First of all, the person’s online behavior must be for non-study and work purposes, and this behavior will damage his social functions, that is, his ability to study, work and communicate, and he will be full of desire and impulsiveness to surf the Internet (psychological Dependence), and there are obvious withdrawal reactions (anxiety, irritability, losing temper, trying every means to surf the Internet) when being forced to not perform the behavior.

There have been many studies on the mechanism of Internet addiction at home and abroad. Researchers have discovered through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that when teenagers who are truly addicted to the Internet play online games, the changes in their brain functional areas are very similar to those of patients with gambling addiction. These research findings further confirm the existence of Internet addiction. Research from the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences shows that Internet addiction can cause changes in the morphological structure of brain nerve cells. (According to "Changjiang Daily")

So, I believe that true Internet addiction is similar to gambling addiction and belongs to the category of behavioral addiction. At present, the industry at home and abroad has long formed a consensus that behavioral addiction is also a major type of addictive disease, including behavioral addictions to gambling, the Internet, shopping, sex, etc. ?From a psychological perspective, Internet addiction is actually a pathological conditioned reflex that exists at the subconscious level. When patients are upset or bored, they think of surfing the Internet. When they think of surfing the Internet, they feel happy and excited, and produce an uncontrollable impulse. If parents stop it, it can easily lead to fierce conflicts between the two parties. Patients actually know that such behavior is harmful and will prevent them from learning and socializing normally, but they have no way to control their behavior and impulses.

It is important to note that I think Internet addiction is a mental illness, but it is by no means a mental illness. Mental illness and psychosis are two completely different concepts. In medicine, mental illness refers to a very wide range, including smoking addiction, depression, insomnia, anxiety, ADHD, etc. However, the scope of mental illness is very narrow. Many people confuse mental illness with psychosis, but in fact, the mental illness they understand often refers to severe schizophrenia.

How should Internet addiction be treated? There are many scientific and comprehensive methods, but they certainly shouldn’t be like Yang Yongxin’s. ?As mentioned above, patients with Internet addiction know that surfing the Internet will cause damage to their social functions, but they cannot control it. These teenagers usually have low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence in real life, and then continue to escape in the online world, forming a cycle of vicious behavior. This kind of psychological disorder requires professional psychological intervention. ?From the root perspective, the root of Internet addiction is the family. Based on my many years of clinical experience and practice in adolescent addiction treatment, adolescents with behavioral problems and Internet addiction problems all originate from abnormal family relationships, mainly due to deviations in their parents’ educational concepts and methods.

The most common examples are: · Doting type, where parents believe that as long as their children have good academic performance, they will be satisfied without providing positive and healthy guidance.

· Neglecting type, parents are busy with work and business and ignore the needs and feelings of their children, resulting in indifferent parent-child relationship.

· Controlling type, as long as the child is disobedient, he will take extraordinary measures, including beating and scolding, to force the child to be obedient, causing the child to become more rebellious.

These educational problems lead to the rigidity of the parent-child relationship.

If it goes deeper, why do parents have these wrong educational concepts? On the one hand, it comes from the parents' respective families of origin. They are influenced by their parents and form their own educational concepts and opinions, which they will involuntarily apply to their own children.

Both parents come from different original families, and conflicts may arise due to different concepts, leaving the children at a loss. Therefore, some families also have problems such as doting and controlling at the same time, which results in more psychological disorders in the children. . If not corrected, this problem will be passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, the correct treatment method also requires psychological intervention for family members.

In 2006, Professor Tao Ran founded the first Internet addiction diagnosis and treatment base in China, the "Beijing Military Region General Hospital Youth Psychological Growth Base", which mainly treats Internet addiction among teenagers. This base uses a series of systematic methods such as psychotherapy, family therapy, behavioral therapy, and even simulating virtual games in reality.

For some serious cases, drug treatment is also required. Because severe Internet addiction may cause or cause other mental disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and even mental symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, relevant drugs need to be taken. This is a comprehensive scientific treatment. Therefore, taking medicine is not an unscientific treatment method, nor does it mean that mental illness does not require taking medicine.

I am also engaged in research and treatment in this area. The Rihui Psychology (WeChat ID: RHXL5191) I founded is mainly for effective intervention for addiction, depression and learning disabilities. In terms of behavioral addiction, the targets of intervention are often more serious compound addictive behaviors, such as Internet addiction. For gambling addiction, the treatment method is similar to Professor Tao Ran's method. However, we focus more on psychological intervention and family intervention, which are stronger and more efficient, and we are more prudent in drug use.

In general, it is necessary to objectively analyze children’s problems from multiple perspectives such as brain science, medicine, psychology, psychiatry and sociology, and carry out in-depth, systematic, humane and Efficient psychological intervention and comprehensive treatment are common knowledge in the medical field.

Is it enough to just help young people cure their Internet addiction? Far from it, we also need to help them rebuild family relationships and get back on the track of learning. Rebuilding family relationships is mainly through family therapy, which has been mentioned above and will not be repeated again. ?Internet addicted teenagers are often students, and their main job is to study. The purpose of quitting Internet addiction is to get back on the track of learning and return to society healthily. This involves the treatment of learning disabilities. At present, our technology in this area has matured. The goal is to enable these children to be in a positive and focused mental state when they return to class, learn happily and efficiently, and quickly catch up with their learning progress. We don't even rule out letting them learn to be "addicted" and transform from a problematic boy into an outstanding boy. ?At present, our psychological intervention technology in this area has matured and is still being iterated. It once took less than 30 hours of psychological intervention to cure a patient with "Internet addiction + fetish addiction + learning disorder + depression + social interaction" A returning high school student with a phobia. (For details, please click "Why do excellent parents raise "problem" sons" above and "Why do excellent parents raise "problem" sons" below.

Does "electric shock" exist in medicine? "therapy"?

It exists, but it has basically been eliminated.

I have seen that most reports and commentaries refer to Yang Yongxin's method as "electric shock therapy", while others It is called "electroconvulsive therapy". These two therapies are completely different and cannot be confused. Now, "electroconvulsive therapy" has been developed into non-convulsive electroconvulsive therapy (MECT). For the treatment of severe mental disorders (often including severe depression, severe schizophrenia, bipolar disorder with violent tendencies, etc.), when drugs and psychological counseling are ineffective, electric current is applied throughout the patient's body under anesthesia. Patients basically feel no pain, and the cell membranes of their body cells quickly return to zero potential, and their condition is often significantly improved. However, this method can only target temporary problems and cannot solve fundamental problems, and the effective rate is about 70%~. 80%, it is ineffective for some patients. Even those who are effective will still need to use drugs and psychological treatment for radical treatment. Therefore, electroconvulsive therapy is used clinically, mainly for severe patients, and is more humane. Chemotherapy.

Electroshock therapy is another type of therapy that generally applies electric current to the patient's body while he is awake, in order to make him suffer, to put it more technically, to establish aversive conditions. Emission. A long time ago, some people used to treat so-called "homosexual patients" (homosexuality is no longer a mental illness, this is another topic). Electroshock therapy was also used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder. To put it simply, electroshock was used. Connect the painful feeling with a certain behavior to make the patient feel painful when thinking about this behavior, thereby reducing this behavior. Teenagers are forcibly shocked to the point of crying

But this method has a big problem. On the one hand, it causes a lot of pain and harm to the patient, and it treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Therefore, this kind of therapy has basically been eliminated at present. If Yang Yongxin is indeed using this method, it is actually torture in the name of electroshock therapy. Reality.

It can be seen from the report that he did not connect the pain of electric shock to the behavior of surfing the Internet, but connected the pain of electric shock to all the children's disobedience, forcing the children to "obediently" apologize to their parents, or lie that they are willing to stay Treatment and more. This is not therapy, this is the threat of violence.

So, parents are fully aware of this. Just because electroshock therapy was once a medical therapy, we cannot blindly accept it. We must recognize the essence of the matter.

What psychological barriers will painful electric shocks cause to children? Most likely, and the most common, is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PTSD usually refers to the psychological disorder after a person suffers a major setback, blow or major natural disaster. Judging from existing reports, for teenagers, Yang Yongxin's therapy is a major blow in their lives. When they think about this experience in the future, they will still be scared and fearful, develop avoidant behaviors, and even suffer from insomnia, depression, etc.

Moreover, this method does not really solve the family problems behind Internet-addicted teenagers or troubled teenagers. It often worsens the parent-child relationship, makes family conflicts more intense, and even breaks up the family. If the underlying problem is not solved, it will easily recur.

Why would those parents willingly hand over their children to Yang Yongxin?

It is pain and helplessness.

According to reports, many parents know that their children are suffering physical and mental torture, but still require their children to stay in Linyi Internet Detoxification Center for "treatment." Many of my friends have said, are these parents out of their minds? ?Actually, I can understand these parents very well. Many problem teenagers are not necessarily Internet addicts, but have behavioral problems, such as skipping school and fighting. These problems originate from the family, that is, the parent-child relationship has become very rigid, parents are helpless, and the school has no good solutions. These parents are in pain, and how to help them get out of the pain has created a huge addiction treatment market. ?Linyi Internet Counseling Center and similar institutions have captured this mentality of parents. When children become rebellious, parents send them to these institutions to make them obedient, even if they use painful electric shock therapy. Therefore, their behavior may seem stupid, but it is actually a helpless act.

The last thing I want to say. Not only Internet addiction, but also adolescent addiction and behavioral problems require in-depth, systematic, humane and efficient psychological intervention and comprehensive treatment. However, there are very few institutions in China that have these conditions. We professionals still need to work hard to provide a way out for parents and children who are in deep pain.

Criticizing Yang Yongxin is not the purpose, but to make the public aware of these problems and further understand the nature of the problems and scientific treatments.

The purpose of various reports and comments is to allow more families to learn to self-reflect and improve themselves, and not to blame all problems on their children. Parents should understand the psychological change process of their children's growth. While respecting their children's ideas, they should also provide correct guidance and norms so that their children can grow up in an environment where they are respected and understood, rather than going to extremes.

Parents must learn to grow. There are no problem children, only problem parents.

If you want to see more authoritative analysis, or have relevant information exchange, please contact He Rihui (vx: herihui2015)