Local program offers help for Internet addicts
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FALL CITY, Wash. -- Studies suggest that 1 in 8 Americans suffers from Internet addiction. But until now, there have been very few places for people to turn.
For 20-year-old Alex, who didn't want us to use his last name, video games were an escape.
"I turned to the Iinternet or video games and when I felt like I felt better, hours had gone by -- three or four hours!" he said.
Alex says it evolved into a full-fledged Internet addiction. It began when he fell behind in his studies at Vassar, a highly selective and rigorous Liberal Arts College.
"At a certain point, I just couldn't take it anymore so I turned to video games and the Internet to escape from the stress," he said.
Most internet addicts spend 6 to 18 hours a day online.
But now there is help locally at the Restart Internet Addiction Recovery Program in Fall City -- the only in-patient Internet addiction program in the country.
"This is a real addiction," said Hilarie Cash, the program's executive director. "It's the unpredictability and the anticipation of reward that is what hooks us all."
At Restart, there are no electronics -- not even a cell phone here.
For at least 45 days, addicts give up their drug cold turkey. And after their brain goes thru withdrawal, officials with the program say their clients feel normal again.
Alex says it's helping him and being honest with himself was the first step in recovery.
"I never in a million years thought it would affect me and screwed up my life they way it did," he said.
To learn if you have an internet addiction, Restart offers a quiz you can take.
For 20-year-old Alex, who didn't want us to use his last name, video games were an escape.
"I turned to the Iinternet or video games and when I felt like I felt better, hours had gone by -- three or four hours!" he said.
Alex says it evolved into a full-fledged Internet addiction. It began when he fell behind in his studies at Vassar, a highly selective and rigorous Liberal Arts College.
"At a certain point, I just couldn't take it anymore so I turned to video games and the Internet to escape from the stress," he said.
Most internet addicts spend 6 to 18 hours a day online.
But now there is help locally at the Restart Internet Addiction Recovery Program in Fall City -- the only in-patient Internet addiction program in the country.
"This is a real addiction," said Hilarie Cash, the program's executive director. "It's the unpredictability and the anticipation of reward that is what hooks us all."
At Restart, there are no electronics -- not even a cell phone here.
For at least 45 days, addicts give up their drug cold turkey. And after their brain goes thru withdrawal, officials with the program say their clients feel normal again.
Alex says it's helping him and being honest with himself was the first step in recovery.
"I never in a million years thought it would affect me and screwed up my life they way it did," he said.
To learn if you have an internet addiction, Restart offers a quiz you can take.
