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U.S. opens first rehab center for web addicts

August 22, 2009 - 2:29pm
FALL CITY, Wash. - How do you define the symptoms of Internet addiction?

Do you suffer from World of Warcraft withdrawal? Do you Twitter more than you talk? Do you try right-clicking your dog?

Now there's a place where you can find answers. No, not the Betty Ford Clinic. This one's the reStart Internet Addiction Recovery Program, a five-acre site in Fall City, Wash., just a few miles from the Microsoft headquarters.

For $14,500, you can enter the 45-day program designed "to help internet and video game addicts overcome their dependence on gaming, gambling, chatting, texting and other aspects of Internet Addiction," a press release said.

The program is the first of its kind in the U.S., though similar ones already exist in places like China and South Korea.

The goal is to address the estimated 10 percent of the online population that is currently dependent on various aspects of the Internet.

ReStart says symptoms include changes in sleep patterns, weight gain or loss, carpal tunnel syndrome, neglecting family and friends and feeling restless while not engaged in Internet activity.

Click here for a complete list of symptoms.

Rest assured, surfing WTOP.com is not one of them.

(Copyright by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)


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