Oct. 13, 2009
Marshall Psychiatrist Publishes Paper on Children and Choking Game which Claimed Film Star David Carradine
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – A Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine psychiatrist and professor has published an article on the choking game (Autoerotic Asphyxiation, AEA) which took the life of “Kung Fu” star David Carradine.
Dr. David Cowell called it a “medical community curiosity, a freaky behavior,” in an article published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics. Cowell writes that 250 to 1,200 people “accidentally” perish from this procedure of choking themselves, he said few participants talk about it, although he “knows of cases as early as nine.”
His article noted an eroticization of hanging by Herman Melville in “Billy Budd” and the authors of “Waiting for Godot” discuss alleviating boredom by hanging themselves.
Writer/director Claes Lilja along with Robert Dunlap, an Los Angeles clinical sexologist, produced a 2001 documentary “Beyond Vanilla,” which explores unconventional sexual practices such as AEA.
Contacted by ABC-TV, Dunlap said, "I think that the practice may have dropped off ... in light of this [Carradine]," he said. "I don't think people would be as inclined to be a participant when they are thinking, 'Wow, I could probably kill myself here.'".
However, Dr. Cowell found approximately 408 published fatal cases from 1954-2004, ranging in age from 9 to 77. For instance, Edinburgh, Scotland reported 30 deaths from plastic bag asphyxiation from 1984-1988. Their ages: 13 to 81 years.
Most of the participants are male, although one theorist suggests that a male victim may attempt such perversion due to “feelings of emasculation by his mother.” The theory suggests that the child may on a fantasy level be putting the powerful woman in his life to death.
But, men’s favorite female body part for a sexual turn-on, actually, has a part in the theories.
“The neonate could feel smothered during unrelieved breastfeeding as well as during breath-holding while crying yet both associated with pleasurable sensations” that might lead to heightened sensual experiences in later life.
Dr. Cowell labels the conduct a “compulsion to reenact and thereby discharge (act out) intense feeling states…of very early development.” Comparing it to cross-dressing and sadomasochistic humiliation scenarios, the writer observed, “The momentary exhilaration that AEA provides often leads to a lifetime of shame, mystification, self-condemnation, self-isolation, and hopelessness that can end in suicide. In recognizing AEA and when possible interrupting its course, a pediatrician may save ayoung life or at least alleviate a secret burden.”
The article can be found at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2009-0730v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Dr.+Daniel+Cowell&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT
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Marshall Psychiatrist Publishes Paper on Children and Choking Game which Claimed Film Star David Carradine
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – A Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine psychiatrist and professor has published an article on the choking game (Autoerotic Asphyxiation, AEA) which took the life of “Kung Fu” star David Carradine.
Dr. David Cowell called it a “medical community curiosity, a freaky behavior,” in an article published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics. Cowell writes that 250 to 1,200 people “accidentally” perish from this procedure of choking themselves, he said few participants talk about it, although he “knows of cases as early as nine.”
His article noted an eroticization of hanging by Herman Melville in “Billy Budd” and the authors of “Waiting for Godot” discuss alleviating boredom by hanging themselves.
Writer/director Claes Lilja along with Robert Dunlap, an Los Angeles clinical sexologist, produced a 2001 documentary “Beyond Vanilla,” which explores unconventional sexual practices such as AEA.
Contacted by ABC-TV, Dunlap said, "I think that the practice may have dropped off ... in light of this [Carradine]," he said. "I don't think people would be as inclined to be a participant when they are thinking, 'Wow, I could probably kill myself here.'".
However, Dr. Cowell found approximately 408 published fatal cases from 1954-2004, ranging in age from 9 to 77. For instance, Edinburgh, Scotland reported 30 deaths from plastic bag asphyxiation from 1984-1988. Their ages: 13 to 81 years.
Most of the participants are male, although one theorist suggests that a male victim may attempt such perversion due to “feelings of emasculation by his mother.” The theory suggests that the child may on a fantasy level be putting the powerful woman in his life to death.
But, men’s favorite female body part for a sexual turn-on, actually, has a part in the theories.
“The neonate could feel smothered during unrelieved breastfeeding as well as during breath-holding while crying yet both associated with pleasurable sensations” that might lead to heightened sensual experiences in later life.
Dr. Cowell labels the conduct a “compulsion to reenact and thereby discharge (act out) intense feeling states…of very early development.” Comparing it to cross-dressing and sadomasochistic humiliation scenarios, the writer observed, “The momentary exhilaration that AEA provides often leads to a lifetime of shame, mystification, self-condemnation, self-isolation, and hopelessness that can end in suicide. In recognizing AEA and when possible interrupting its course, a pediatrician may save ayoung life or at least alleviate a secret burden.”
The article can be found at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2009-0730v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Dr.+Daniel+Cowell&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT
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