Bangkok - Ten-year-old Suaravich Charoensuk loved computer games so much he did almost nothing else.
The Thai youngster would come home from school and sit for up to six hours a night in front of a flickering screen, ignoring everything else around him.
"He became very emotional, very hostile, and very aggressive."
"He became very emotional, very hostile, and very aggressive," said his mother Chintana Charoensuk. "He used to hit his younger sister when she tried to interrupt him."
Chintana tried everything to wean her son from his pixellated world. She encouraged him to go outdoors and play sports, she left interesting books around the house for him to read, and tried to limit how long he could play video games every day.
But Suaravich couldn't keep away. It began to affect his school work, and he was put back in school from grade four - the normal level for his age - to grade two, and then eventually all the back to grade one.
Education officials say that cases like Suaravich's are becoming increasingly common, as Internet use explodes in Thailand.
Unbalanced life
"Addiction to online games is among the top nine reasons for poor performance in school, along with problems like truancy, gambling and sex," said Yindee Panweawngam, of the education ministry's Office to Improve Student Behaviour.
"Online games can cause students to suffer academically, increase stress, promote aggressive behaviour, waste their money and hurt their eyes," he said.
Surveys of Bangkok youth two years ago highlighted the problem, with some 24 percent of nearly 1,900 people questioned saying they would describe a friend as addicted to online gaming.
Another survey in 2005 of youth aged 12 to 25 said they spent an average of 1 114 baht (about R230) a month on video games - equivalent to a week's pay for a minimum wage worker.
The young people reported a range of problems they blamed on their online activities, including eye strain, falling school performance grades, financial troubles and even physical weakness due to a lack of exercise.
Addiction or phase?
There is still debate among doctors over whether children can really become addicted to video games in the same way that people are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Some medical professionals point out that for many teens, a fixation with gaming is just an adolescent rite of passage.
But rising concern has led parents like Chintana to search for a cure.
Two years ago, when Suaravich was 12, she chanced on a leaflet advertising a new, government-funded Centre for Game Addiction Prevention.
Suaravich began attending a weekly two-hour session of adolescent group therapy, and the aggressive edge in his behaviour quickly softened.
Soon, his mother says, he was spending less time in front of a screen, and his school work was back on track.
The centre opened two years ago, and since then some 1 000 parents and 300 children have received treatment there.
According to Bundit Sornpaisarn, a doctor who leads the programme, 80 to 90 percent of parents and children who attended saw significant improvements.
The centre borrows some of its techniques from programmes that treat other forms of addiction, like group therapy and assigning children tasks to build their self-esteem.
But the centre also uses slightly less conventional approaches, like showing the teens a video of a woman giving birth, to demonstrate the sacrifice a parent makes for their child.
Bundit said that like other forms addiction, excessive gaming hinders teens' ability to interact with the outside world.
"Some children play for 16 hours a day, or in some cases more than 24 hours" at a stretch, he said.
"Others steal money to buy hardware and games, and many stop going to school. There are many symptoms that resemble drug addiction," he added.
Suaravich, now 14, has shown considerable improvement. After attending an initial 10-week course, he went on to complete a family camp with his mother and sister, and then an adolescent camp.
Now, his mother says, the youngster has gone back up two grades at school, and only plays computer games for one or two hours a day.
"He is much better," said Chintana. "He is no longer hostile, and has other interests. He enjoys listening to music, playing tennis and looking after his pet hamster."