The Choking "Game"
 

Has anyone ever heard of this?

From MayoClinic.com: Participants in the choking game — typically adolescents — attempt to trigger a high by temporarily depriving the brain of oxygen through strangulation. The choking game is often done with a noose or another person's hands around the participant's neck. A child may also take a deep breath, hold it, and have someone hug him or her from behind until he or she feels dizzy and passes out.

Also an article from earlier in 2010: http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...953653,00.html

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I get alumnae email updates from my high school and yesterday I got an email about an incoming freshmen who passed away (she had an older sister who is a rising sophomore at the school). I come to find out through Facebook (I am FB friends with a family friend who knew her) that she died accidentally when "playing" the choking game.

I had NEVER heard of this until yesterday, although it's apparently been popular for a while. I am really, really disturbed by it. Has anyone ever heard of this?

I've only ever heard of it as an extreme form of S&M.

I first heard of this in the late 80s/early 90s. There are a lot of things kids did back then (including the "drinking game" with water or kool aid where you drink nonstop) that people didn't know were dangerous. Although, the "choking game" is more obviously dangerous (and stupid) than the other games.

Also, the "choking game" has existed in an underground sexual form for well over 20 years. Some people masturbate with a noose around their neck or ask for someone to choke them during during sex (or choke them instead of having sex).

I've heard of it in both contexts (S+M and "kids being dumb"). I remember seeing it several times on the news and, IIRC, it was brought up once or twice here on GC.

Not exactly sure what the appeal is, but I hope the increased exposure reminds folks of how dumb it is.

I read about this maybe a year or two ago. The article focused on sixth graders and I think was "discovered" when one of the kids almost died. It might have accompanied a "huffing" story, IIRC.

Scary stuff. Even scarier when children are doing it, and now people are uploading instructional videos? Sick, sick, sick.

Wow, looks like I'm behind. I just can't shake the thought, I can't imagine someone doing this to themselves or having someone do it to them.

Oh this is old news...they had something about this I think on 60 minutes or a show like that a few years ago. I remember discussing it with some of my students and they all thought the kids who did it were dumb. One even said, "Man, why can't they just do drugs like the rest of us?" I just shook my head on that one, then again this kid always had red eyes and was sleepy and was also busted in 7th grade for selling pot at school - a real brain trust that one was.

It's one of those things that's not REALLY that common and then becomes a HUGE FREAKING DEAL because some reporter finds out about it. There are, of course, instructional videos and websites for everything from building a bomb to a do it yourself circumcision. None of that makes it particularly common.

That doesn't mean that parents and others shouldn't be educated about it.

Sure but it takes one line "Kids choking themselves or each other for a 'high' is rare but very dangerous." Done.

Blowing it up makes kids more likely to try it (because they read the news too) and makes people flip out. Like the jelly bracelet thing. A small number of college students and kinky adults were playing the "jelly bracelets = sex acts" game. Next thing you know the things are banned in grade schools. Kids weren't doing it.

One of my male students (16 years old) died in this manner back in the mid 80's. I had never heard of anything like this before. Very tragic. You should have been in the faculty meeting where the very conservative, straight laced principal explained the manner of death to us...

Auto-erotic asphyxiation sounds slightly more .... dignified.

But it's one of those S&M things that most people leave be because of it's level of dangerousness.

There was a pretty big group of people I was casually acquainted with in high school that used to do this. There was one kid who was really "good" at it and it turned into a popular party trick. One time a kid passed out and didn't get up right away. He wound up being fine, but I think it scared the group into stopping.

I know a lot of the people who would do it did it out of curiosity, and it definitely became more popular after a bunch of news stories came out our sophomore year.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/...+Hutchence.jpg

"These kids think they discovered something new. LOL!"

http://www.dailycomedy.com/images/jo...-carradine.jpg

"Tell me about it, grasshopper. OMGWTFBBQ."

Yeah it has never occurred to me that this might be a good idea, and I didn't know anyone in high school that did this...and still don't. (Though at my age I'm willing to bet I do know some people that do it, they just don't publicize it).