Heavensfield Retreat Center, home of the reSTART program, outside Redmond. (Image courtesy of reSTART)

A new addiction treatment program unlike any other in the country opened recently outside Redmond. This new program, reSTART, aims to heal a malady created by the digital age: Internet addiction. Though similar centers exist in Asia and online, reSTART is the first of its kind in the United States. Patients pay $14,500 to live at Heavensfield Retreat Center for 45 days. They participate in individual and group counseling, outdoor activities, life coaching and a variety of other programs.

So how do you distinguish between healthy Internet use and an addiction? According to an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry by Jerald Block, a Portland psychiatrist who specializes in this field, symptoms of Internet addiction include excessive use; feelings of anger or discomfort when away from a computer or portable device; the urge to increasingly buy better software or technology or to expand usage; and negative impact on quality of life; including sleep deprivation, poor performance at work or in school and lying about how much time one spends online. Internet addiction generally falls into three categories: gaming, sexual content and email or text messaging.

Internet addiction is becoming more prevalent in the United States. In a 2006 Stanford University study, 14 percent of American adults reported finding it difficult to be disconnected for several days; 9 percent said they hide certain aspects of their Internet use from family and friends; and 8 percent said they use the Internet to escape reality. The American Psychiatric Association is currently debating whether to add Internet addiction to the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), due for release in 2012. Inclusion in the DSM would mean both the possibility of insurance coverage for treatment and wider acceptance of sufferers’ hardships. But critics of the term “Internet addiction” say that labeling extreme Internet use as deviant is merely an older generation trying to quantify behavior they do not understand.

It’s not just “World of Warcraft” gamers and online poker players who are affected by this addiction. CNN reports that stay-at-home moms, particularly young ones, are especially vulnerable. New mothers often spend a great deal of time at home with no other adults to talk to. Blogs, message boards and Second Life become natural outlets for social interaction.

Internet addiction is perhaps an even more serious problem in China, South Korea and Taiwan. The Christian Science Monitor estimates that 17 million of China’s 300 million Internet users can be classified as addicts, meaning they spend more than six hours of leisure time online every day. South Korea considers Internet addiction to be a top concern after a number of deaths in Internet cafes, including 10 cardiopulmonary-related fatalities and one homicide.

Given the widespread nature of the problem, it’s no surprise that these Asian countries already treat people for Internet addiction. As Internet use has exploded in China, particularly among the country’s teens, parents have turned to hundreds of training camps to cure their kids of their addictive Internet behaviors, CNN reports.

Although some treatment centers have been successful, others have recently come under scrutiny for extreme behaviors, such as electroshock therapy and military-style drills. In August, a teenage boy died from physical abuse at an Internet addiction camp; at another camp, a boy was beaten, leaving him in critical condition.

The effectiveness of treatment for Internet addiction is still up for debate. Internet addiction has a relatively high rate of co-morbidity, the simultaneous presence of two of more illnesses in a patient. Among Internet addicts, 86 percent also suffer from some other psychiatric problem. Co-morbidity is common in many forms of addiction, but it does raise the argument that treatment for Internet addiction is merely addressing a symptom and not the cause. Is an executive who obsessively checks his e-mail on his Blackberry an Internet addict or a workaholic? How does compulsive gambling online differ from compulsive gambling in a casino? If a new mom spends all her time visiting a message board to alleviate her postpartum depression, should she be treated for depression, addiction or both?

Regardless, in an increasingly digital reality, excessive Internet use is likely to become more common. If someone is hiding time online from a loved one or missing important deadlines because he’s immersed in an online activity, he may be afflicted. ReSTART offers an online diagnostic test to help identify one’s risk.

Helen Pitlick has been a student in the MCDM program since spring 2009. She works with social media as an intern at Foodista.com, and in her spare time she reviews craft beer.