China ends shocks for web addicts

China has stopped the use of electrical shock treatment as a cure for internet addiction, admitting that there is no evidence that it works.

The Health Ministry has ordered the Linyi Mental Health Hospital to cease using the practice.

The hospital in eastern Shandong province has used the treatment on nearly 3,000 youths, according to the China Youth Daily newspaper.

The electric shock treatment formed part of a four-month program which included counseling and medical treatment.

China has the most internet users in the world, with an internet population of more than 300 million.

According to a message on the health ministry's website there is no domestic or international clinical evidence that electric shock therapy helps cure internet addiction.

Shock treatment is sometimes used on people suffering from severe depression where other treatments have failed.

Chinese psychologists classify internet addiction as being online for more than six hours a day, playing games and looking at pornography instead of working and getting angry when not being able to get online.