choking games

While Ed and I were at my parents' house before Christmas, I watched "Dr. Phil" with my mom. I know most people ridicule what they call Dr. Phil's "pop psychology," but I really like what he has to say and how he says it. He's bluntly honest and cuts right to the heart of an issue in a way that's foreign to most of us. And his views on marriage, family, and culture are very healthy.

Anyway, in this episode I watched with my mom, Dr. Phil was talking about teens who engage in "choking games": games in which they cause themselves or others to pass out in order to get a thrill or a high. I had heard of this sort of thing before, but I didn't know it was so widespread.

And I didn't know that it's so dangerous. I'm thinking most of you, my Faithful Readers, don't know much about it either, so I went researching online. This little activity is not "just a game," it's not something to do "just for fun." It's dangerous and deadly. It's playing Russian roulette with your brain. Here are some of the things I've found:

From ABC News:

• The age range most commonly involved in this behavior is 9-14. I'm not so sure they wouldn't already know something about these games. They are more common than we adults would like to believe. I would treat discussion of this like the discussion of any other high-risk behavior like smoking, alcohol and drugs. For example, when talking about drugs, you could say, "Some kids think they can 'get high' without using drugs or alcohol by hyperventilating or putting pressure on their chest or neck. This can be just as dangerous and some kids have actually died doing it."
• There are two parts to the experience. The first is a light-headedness (a perceived "high") due to reduced blood flow, and therefore reduced delivery of oxygen, to the brain. The second part comes with the removal of pressure on the chest or neck releasing a powerful surge of dammed up blood up through the carotid arteries into the brain (a perceived "rush").
• This activity has no sexual component and should not be confused with autoerotic asphyxia (AEA) as practiced by older, nearly exclusively male, adolescents and young adults. Asphyxial games are played by both boys and girls, most of whom are pre-pubertal or in early puberty. The primary goal is a brief, consciousness altering experience. In AEA the sexual element is primary with pornography, cross-dressing and elaborate bindings being prominent features of the scene investigation.
• There are reports of children having sustained enough anoxic (lack of oxygen) brain damage as a result of some catastrophe playing the game to be permanently disabled. Short-term effects may still include sudden death — even when playing with a partner or group. For example, if a player has his/her hands around a partner's neck and stimulates a small mass of nerve cells, called the carotid bodies, the heart can be brought to a virtual standstill. Other short-term effects may be traumatic injury. There have been reports of emergency room visits to repair lacerations of the scalp, sprained wrists and other injuries when a player has passed out and fallen against a piece of furniture or to the floor. One article from France describes damage to the retina in children playing what is called "the scarf game."
• Assuming the child is playing alone, he/she could lose consciousness within a minute after constricting the neck. Once the child loses consciousness the weight of their own body will tighten the ligature and death will occur in as little as 2 to 4 minutes.
• Names the game is known by: "Passout," "Blackout," "Space Monkey," "Space Cowboy," "Knockout," "Gasp," "Rising Sun," "Airplaning"

From an interview with 14-year-old Alyssa on Dr. Phil's website:

• “Do you know that your brain at that point is essentially in seizure? That what you’ve done is asphyxiated your brain to the point that your brain cells are dying...It’s not 'could kill some brain cells,' you are killing brain cells … Probably in the millions, definitely not recoverable. And so every time that happens, there could be hemorrhage, there could be silent strokes in the temporal lobe and other areas. Even if nothing catastrophic ever happens, the damage is inalterable.”
• Alyssa: “Nothing can happen to you. But usually the person you’re choking you care about, at least a little bit.”
  Dr. Phil: “Do you hear any logical contradiction or inconsistency in using the phrase, ‘the person you’re choking,’ and ‘care about’ in the same sentence?”
  Alyssa: "I know it sounds really bad--”
  Dr. Phil: "You say this is at least a friend, right? And you’ve got them down choking them, and you’re not trained in martial arts. You’re not trained in self-defense. You’re not trained in neural-anatomy. You’re not trained in respiratory aspects of functioning of the human body. So what you’re doing is just kind of deciding how hard to push and not push and how long and how much. You have absolutely no basis whatsoever in knowing how to predict the consequences of what you’re doing."
• “Between 400 and 500 kids a year die from this game (in America)… And that doesn’t count those that just have serious injuries and have to get tracheotomies, or they have strokes, or they have memory loss, they have other neurological impairments secondary to asphyxiation.”

Warning Signs:

• Linear abrasions (scrapes) or bruises on the neck
• Petechiae (tiny, pinpoint bleeding spots) of the skin of the face, especially the eyelids, or of the conjunctiva (the lining of the eyelids and eyes)
• High-necked shirts, even in warm weather
• Intermittent hoarseness without other explanation such as a cold or allergies
• The unexplained presence of dog leashes, choke collars, bungee cords, etc
• If the child uses a computer, check the history of sites visited periodically

Food for thought.