NEW TREATMENT CENTER FOR WEB ADDICTS OPENS IN ROME

NEW TREATMENT CENTER FOR WEB ADDICTS OPENS IN ROME

(ANSA) - Rome, November 2 - A new treatment center for Web addicts opened its doors on Monday at a hospital in Rome, administrators said.

According to psychiatrist Federico Tonioni, the new outpatient program helps people diagnosed with Internet Addiction Disorder to get their obsessive web surfing under control.

''Pathological use of the Internet can lead to symptoms very similar to what drug addicts experience on withdrawal,'' Tonioni said.

''Many patients have anxiety attacks or experience depression when they can't have access to the Internet''.

Tonioni explained that the program was linked to the hospital's center for drug and gambling addiction, and relied on a similar strategy to help patients kick the habit.

The three-step program is based on individual and group therapy designed at reducing patients' psychological dependence on computers and helping them rebuild ''real-time'' human relationships, which may have gone neglected as a result of their Web addiction.

According to a recent study by Italian center for addiction research Nostos, around 34% of Italians Internet users spend enough time on the Web to interfere with work and personal relationships.