The Choking Game – a New High

By Lisa Frederiksen |

A Choking Game – who would play and why?

Wow! on this story that I heard this morning on NPR’s Health Program by Rob Stein, “Deadly ‘Choking Game’ Comes With Big Risks.” Quoting from the show’s transcript:

“‘The choking game is a strangulation activity that some kids participate in, using either their hands or something like a rope or a belt or something like that,’ she [Katrina Hedberg, the state epidemiologist in Oregon] says.

“Why? Thomas A. Andrew, New Hampshire’s chief medical examiner, who has studied the trend, explains: ‘As the brain is deprived of oxygen, there’s this sensation of lightheadedness, which is interpreted as a high. And then once the pressure is released and blood flow is restored in a fashion, they see stars and the feeling is described as a rush,’ he said.

“According to a study Hedberg’s colleagues published today in the journal Pediatrics, around 6 percent of more than 5,000 middle-schoolers surveyed in Portland, Ore., have tried the choking game. And about a quarter of them have tried it at least five times, the researchers reported.

“‘With each of those episodes, obviously, just a little bit of the brain is being damaged,’ Andrew said. ‘So who knows what the long-term effects may be on children who do this repeatedly?'” (NPR’s Health Program by Rob Stein, “Deadly ‘Choking Game’ Comes With Big Risks.)

To listen to the show:


Lisa Frederiksen

Lisa Frederiksen

Author | Speaker | Consultant | Founder at BreakingTheCycles.com
Lisa Frederiksen is the author of hundreds of articles and 12 books, including her latest, "10th Anniversary Edition If You Loved Me, You'd Stop! What you really need to know when your loved one drinks too much,” and "Loved One In Treatment? Now What!” She is a national keynote speaker with over 30 years speaking experience, consultant and founder of BreakingTheCycles.com. Lisa has spent the last 19+ years studying and simplifying breakthrough research on the brain, substance use and other mental health disorders, secondhand drinking, toxic stress, trauma/ACEs and related topics.
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Posted in Underage Drinking | Drug Use Prevention

2 Comments

  1. Cathy Taughinbaugh | Treatment Talk on April 16, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    Hi Lisa,

    I’ve heard of this before. It sounds very dangerous and I’m sure people have lost their lives because of it. Thanks for sharing this important message.

    Reply
    • Lisa Frederiksen on April 16, 2012 at 7:48 pm

      Thanks for your comment, Cathy. I was so surprised by the numbers of children doing it!!

      Reply

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