What is the choking game?

Geplaatst op: 06-02-2019

Studies show that more than 50% of young people know this strangulation and that 10% of adolescents have already participated. So shocking figures. The choking game is also known as ‘The Pass-Out game’. It is not a game: you can suffer serious brain damage. Children suffocate each other by squeezing the carotid arteries, usually with the hands. But it can also be done with a piece of rope, a belt or a tie. This gives a 'high' feeling.

At the moment just before you will faint you let go and your brains get blood again. That takes a while and in that short time you feel a strong kick, a soft-hot flush, a euphoric feeling that can bring you outside yourself. But at that moment you actually feel the massive death of brain cells due to oxygen deficiency. There are also variants in which the carotid artery is not pinched, but the abdominal artery. By pushing hard into the belly. Another variant is called 'faint game' or 'pass out game'. By breathing quickly for a while and then holding your breath, you fall faint. This is no less dangerous, also in this case there is a chance of brain damage. If you do it more often, the brain functions you need for school will permanently decrease, such as concentrating, or remembering things.

Some do it more often, to feel that haze again. You can become addicted to it. Also because it is so easy to 'obtain', unlike alcohol and drugs. And the more often you do it, the stronger the effect becomes.Especially children who suffer from anxiety or depression may easily become addicted to the euphoric feeling. It gives a feeling of control (crazy enough) and temporary relief; You do not have an influence on the world, but on your own body you do.

Every time you deprive your brain of oxygen, they sustain damage. That damage is not recoverable. Sometimes it is completely wrong. If you do it without someone, you are often not on time to stop the suffocation. Then it ends up deadly. Or you faint but you still hang yourself by the weight of your body in the noose. Or you will come back, but you have permanent brain injury. You can also get a stroke, a heart attack, or get into a coma. Or you can fall, with damage to the head, neck or bones.

You can already suffer enormous brain damage if your brain does not get oxygen for 3 seconds. After 4 to 5 seconds you can already die due to an acute cardiac arrest. If you are found, resuscitation is almost never successful. So there is no safe way to do this kind of 'games'. And even if you do not do it alone, the risk of permanent brain injury is still very high.