Nanometre wave machines, military formation drills, gruelling exercise regimes and electric shocks are being used to cure China's ballooning number of internet addicts.
Some 300 treatment centres across the country hope to tackle the growing social problem of web addiction that has accompanied rapid modernisation.
"[Internet addicts] can't adjust to school and society, so they try to escape their difficulties and avoid problems," psychologist Tao Ran, who runs a treatment centre on a military base outside of Beijing, said.
"They lack self-confidence and often don't have the courage to continue their lives," he is quoted by ABC News as saying.
China has an estimated 17 million internet addicts, or between four and six percent of its internet users.
Dr Tao, who co-authored a controversial diagnostic manual for 'internet addiction disorder', says that an addict is someone who spends more than six hours per day for at least three months on internet use not related to work or study.
Most of his 60-odd patients are young men aged between 15 and 21 who are hooked on multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft and Counterstrike, ABC reports.
But there is also a handful of young women at the clinic addicted to virtual life games — decorating virtual homes, having virtual husbands and babies — or popular dance battle games.
Few of his 60-odd patients are there willingly, with most being forced to attend the centre by their parents who pay around $2000 a month.
Dr Tao's tough-love approach involves a three-month regimen of counselling, confidence-building activities and sometimes medication.
One patient, Jia Chunyang, credits the centre with helping him regain control of his life.
The teenager used to skip school to play internet games and only communicated with his friends online.
His lowest moment was when he ran away from his home in the coastal city of Qingdao and went on a 15-day Counterstrike bender at an internet cafe, stopping only for instant noodles and half-hour catnaps.
Jia says that thanks to Dr Tao's rehab centre his life has more structure and that he's gained new, real-world friends.
"Sometimes I don't want to leave," he said.
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