“Choking Game” in Oregon Linked to Mental Health Concerns
January 18th, 2010
Children and adolescents are sometimes prone to engaging in dangerous behavior for reasons that might elude their elders, and a trend frequently referred to as “the choking game” tends to fall into this category of activities. Potentially causing a high through buildup of carbon dioxide in the body, the game involves asphyxiation and has resulted in several deaths across the country as youths experiment with the limits of the game’s entertainment value. Recently, a study of eighth grade students in Oregon has linked higher rates of gameplay to adolescents living in rural areas, and to those with mental health concerns, suggesting that addressing the issue in therapy and other types of treatment may help prevent premature deaths and injury.
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Comments
I have a good friend from high school who died this way. Please help to spread the message that this is not a game, and no matter what kind of high you might think you will get from it, it is not worth losing your life over.
Nobody can watch over an adolescent 24X7, be it a mother or a father…so the best thing to do would be to educate kids about this and show them just how dangerous it can actually turn out to be…that it could cost them their life!
I can tell them why it’s more prevalent in rural areas. Because kids stuck out in the countryside have little to entertain themselves with. Urban kids have more activities to keep them occupied.
Teens do stupid stuff. They want to experience life on the edge and to hell with the consequences. It’s part of growing up. A dare or a fear of being called chicken. That’s all the reason they need to do it.
I think ignorance of how badly wrong the game could go has to be factored in too, Neil. Could it be that’s the thrill of playing it?
Whatever happened to hopscotch and hide and seek?
Kids always do what they are asked not to…so just telling them not to will actually make them do it…because they always do the opposite…so the best way forward is to educate them about this and show them maybe a few documentaries about it.
This is such a sad trend that seems to be growing more and more every year, it is as if teens are always trying to kick it up a notch, the things that we did as teens are no longer good enough for them, they have to find new ways to supposedly make life more exciting. Too bad that this new game that they have discovered is turning out to be so dangerous and deadly. And unfortunately until this touches one of their lives personally the likelihood that they will stop is very slim, that is until the hottest new trend comes along, and by then it may be too late for your own child.
It is the danger factor itself that draws young people into trying such things that can actually turn fatal.No amount of shouting or hassling them is going to solve the problem.What is needed is focused programs in schools and also parents should talk about it with their children and tell them that the thrill is just not worth the risk of losing their lives.
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