Nation's First Inpatient Treatment Center For Internet Addiction Launches In Pa.

BRADFORD, Pa. (CBS) – The nation's first inpatient program for Internet addiction has launched in Pennsylvania.

The hospital-based treatment program, led by renowned Internet-addiction expert and Psy.D. Kimberly Young, will be run by Bradford Regional Medical Center in Bradford, Allegheny County.

Young, who has studied Internet addiction since 1995, says that "back then, people laughed when I told them what I did."

But nowadays, Internet addiction is finally being taken seriously and has even become something of an epidemic in countries like China and Taiwan.

At Bradford Regional Medical Center, the treatment consists of "an intensive 10-day digital treatment and stabilization program" complete with a multidisciplinary medical team. The program is intended for those 18 and over.

"BRMC is proud to launch the first program of its kind in the US," said Timothy J. Finan, President and CEO of Upper Allegheny Health System, the parent company of Bradford Regional Medical Center, in a release. "Our mission is to help others and we have a vision to offer a national program that will help so many with state-of-the-art facilities and a team of qualified experts."

According to the Center for Online and Internet Addiction, signs of online addiction include a preoccupation with online activity, lying about internet use, risking important relationships over the internet and using the internet to escape from problems, among other things.

For more information on Bradford Regional Medical Center's Internet Addiction program, click here.