There’s a new social media fad called “chroming” that parents should know about. “The new ‘huffing’ called ‘chroming’ is a dangerous re-emerging practice on the rise among the youth,” reported CBS Pittsburgh in September. “Chroming involves using items you probably have in your home right now, and it’s hurting kids.”
The dangerous practice involves intentionally breathing in chemical vapors from household products to experience brief euphoric effects. “Despite widespread public health campaigns against substance abuse, chroming’s resurgence highlights the persistent appeal of inhalants among adolescents seeking accessible intoxication methods,” wrote Cameron French in March.
Chroming is a means of getting high via inhaling hydrocarbons by misusing a variety of legal products, including permanent markers, aerosol deodorant, nail polish, metallic paint, computer duster, carburetor cleaner, paint thinners, gasoline and hair spray, Dr. Anthony Pizon, professor of emergency medicine and chief of the division of medical toxicology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine told CNN.
The term “chroming” comes from the aftereffect of inhaling metallic paints sprayed on a rag, which leaves a chrome or metallic residue on the user’s face. The euphoric high comes at enormous risks. As well as inducing a fast high, chroming can cause sudden death. In March 2024, an 11-year-old boy died in the UK after inhaling toxic chemicals in aerosols. His grandmother blamed the chroming craze on TikTok for his death.
Chroming videos have been posted on internet platforms like TikTok using a variety of hashtags, but if you search for “chroming,” “whippits,” or “whiptok” on TikTok, the platform now directs you to substance use resources and helplines.
“Inhaling chemicals can lead to cardiac sensitisation, when the heart becomes more sensitive to adrenaline and other catecholamine compounds—hormones that help your body deal with stress,” explained Professor Adam Taylor, the director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre at Lancaster University in Britain on The Conversation. “This can lead to life-threatening changes to the heart’s rhythm, causing it to beat irregularly (ventricular tachycardia) or abnormally fast (fibrillation). Resuscitation is rarely successful in these cases.”
That’s not all. “Chroming can also lead to unintentional toxicity and asphyxiation, where the molecules of the chemical being inhaled displace oxygen from the lungs, or prevent oxygen crossing into them. This can also prove fatal,” according to Taylor.
The number of 12–17-year-old American adolescents using inhalants had declined from 684,000 in 2015 to 554,000 in 2022, according to the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). However, over the past few years, young people have typically used inhalants more than any other group older than age 12, and the numbers are creeping up again, reaching at least 564,000 in 2023, according to SAMHSA.
“There’s often an underlying psychiatric component of these kids who are just looking to relax or self-medicate,” Dr. Pizon told CNN. Rates of anxiety, depression, and other mood problems have been rising among young people.
Many teenagers require treatment to avoid progressively escalating their substance misuse, which can lead to full-blown addiction and other serious health problems. The negative impact of substance misuse on scholastic achievements will possibly also further accelerate the use of drugs and alcohol.
The hybrid model at Turning Winds utilizes the best elements of care from wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding schools, and inpatient treatment to create a one-of-a-kind residential treatment center to help kids with mental health and substance use issues.
We provide a comprehensive evaluation to determine what services are required. Our medical, clinical, and operations team members will work with parents, their teens, and each other to decide on a personalized program that gets to the heart of the children’s issues and helps them navigate their healing process.
Frequently, that also involves addressing substance misuse issues such as chroming. Program manager Tara Stever has worked with many of our students, helping them overcome their destructive behaviors.
“A lot of kids say something like, ‘because it was fun and stuff,’ but the reality is we use substances to hide something. For most of us, it’s about hiding emotions. We don’t want to feel those emotions, or we don’t want to face some other trauma in life. And so we cover it up and hide it with substance use.”
Any mild to moderate addiction that a child may have can be treated at our residential program—including video game addictions, computer addictions, substance addictions, cutting, and sexual addictions. Teenage clients with these kinds of addictive behaviors have been able to improve in our care.
“Turning Winds is a place for growth because you realize you are not alone,” says Stever. “Every single human being on the face of this earth has strengths and flaws. We all have defects. It’s important to understand that and recognize that it’s okay to have them, and say ‘I will use my strengths to build on my weaknesses.’”
The Turning Winds model of care is based on therapeutic support in a setting that emulates a functional family system. “The simple, singular focus of our treatment program is to help each student improve their self-image and their self-confidence and change the behaviors that have been hindering their growth by teaching them to create stable patterns of living through education, process groups, and individualized treatment planning,” says Turning Winds CEO Owen Baisden.
Ready to empower your teen? Explore our life-changing treatment options today! Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380 to start your teen’s journey to a brighter tomorrow.
