Gordie_boy
The Choking Game
Posted on: 11/27/2008 23:13
Shhhhh! It’s a secret, you know. Don’t tell anyone. It’s just our own thing, something we share, something that’s cool, something that feels great.”
“You’re right, ‘cause my parents would freak if they saw it. They’d say we didn’t know what we were doing. They’d think it was stupid. You know how parents are: always over-protective, helicoptering around like they’re so smart, messing up what’s just fun.”
“And it’s not like we’re hurting anyone. I mean, it’s just us, right? I’m sure our parents did stuff like this when they were kids, so why not us? They survived, didn’t they?”
“But you’re right, we’ve got to keep this on the ld. Adults are so out of it. They don’t understand. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
“Besides, it’s not like we’re doing drugs, or getting drunk, or jacking cars or something. We’re not stupid!”
“No kidding! …So, …you first, or me?”
***********
That’s how it seems to go, but these kids are hiding from a terrible reality, one which can, and has, killed. It’s the secretive nature of the practice which makes it so difficult to detect. It’s hard to pierce the veil of furtiveness no matter how deep is the trusting relationship you believe you have with the youth in your life.
Usually the tragedy plays out as someone stumbles upon the bodies of such youth. The individual has died accidentally by playing what is commonly called “The Choking Game.” When you rob the brain of oxygen through asphyxia, you experience a high (which includes euphoria, dizziness and lowered inhibition) before the individual looses consciousness. The people who try this are only out for the thrill, never intending nor likely realizing the deadly danger.
Often the Choking Game is played in small groups of people almost as a right of belonging, something near and dear especially to the hearts of adolescents who want to be part of the crowd. For some the decision is made to try it out on their own, strangling themselves with cords, with ropes, with scarves, with ties or by using a plastic bag over their head. The danger is that they may get so weak and disoriented from lack of oxygen, they cannot stop in time and they pass out and die while still restrained.
What is incontrovertible is that each experience like this kills brain cells, leading to permanent brain damage over time. Indeed, it can trigger a heart attack. Deprived of oxygen, the chemistry of the blood changes. Those chemical changes can throw the heart into deadly heart rhythm abnormalities or cause a cardiac arrest. Thus you can die even if a friend loosens the noose before you strangle to death.
Parents, relatives and other adults often believe that quietly keeping this information suppressed will help prevent youth from “discovering” the “high” resulting from the asphyxiation. However, considering the Internet, the Blogasphere, the popularity of social networking web sites like My Space and Face Book and other modes of easily accessing information, nothing is hidden in today’s world, no matter how fervently we wish otherwise.
What is needed is open discussion. People need to be educated and to discuss the implications of this deadly practice. Without the openness of a public forum, little will change. Out of the discussion solutions can be sought as we face the reality of the changing practices of our youth. Lives will be saved.
*******
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this right now.”
“Why not?
“I heard that it’s dangerous.”
“So what? There are all kinds of dangerous things. Why not live a little?”
“I want to live a lot. I’ve heard it kills brain cells, permanently sometimes. What kind of life will I have if I can’t even think straight?”
“Really? You’re that worried?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Later. We’re still okay for boarding this weekend, right?”
“Sure. See you then.”
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Comments
JRT
Posted on: 11/28/2008 08:17
In medieval times a common method of execution was the garrot. The male victim was tied nude to a stake , a loop of rope was placed around his neck and then very slowly tightened. At the end, just before death and to the great amusement of the crowd, the victim would experience an involuntary erection and ejaculation. This 'choking game' is very much the same thing ---- it is a fool's game.
WaterBuoy
Posted on: 11/28/2008 10:36
There are five primal senses in various perspectives that we should teach kids about ... along with the sixth ... a mystery item the emotions ... and that is strictly out of bounds by physical roue!
Humanity really hates the truth and would like to polish the creature in us as some bright being without a shadow of a thought ...
Now thinking that's a dangerous thing eh ... nothing hated anymore in this realm than a bright sol ...
"And I am a jealous God!"
Were we not warned ... do we ever pay attention?
And we're the intelligent race!
Even the myth of Beowoulf and Grendel tells of man knocking the scales out of kilter ... the reason we were bifid out of abstract space?
Faerenach
Posted on: 11/28/2008 14:43
Hmmm. I remember when I was a kid (not TOO long ago) we used to make ourselves faint. It's sort of the same concept, I think, but not taken nearly as far. We would hyperventilate purposefully for a minute, heads in our laps, then stand/sit up really quick and stop breathing. I don't think I actually ever managed to faint, but others did. The friend(s) would then laugh, wake them up and ask them how it went.
Is it really true that kids are looking for things that are more and more dangerous to 'have a good time'? Is it a lack of perspective on our part, or is it truly happening, with kids becoming desensitized to real risk and danger?
Gordie_boy
Posted on: 11/28/2008 12:56
Dear Faerenach,
Yes, it is happening all the time. I wrote this blog in response to a couple in our congregation who have lost a grandchild due to the choking game. Danger? They aren't thinking that way.
achet
Posted on: 05/13/2009 10:40
I wish I had known how dangerous the “game” was when I was younger. From time to time we would play the “Fainting Game”. I know now when I have children that I will do my best to convince them that this is not a game to play.
ejaculare precoce