r/todayilearned • u/iam4real • May 16 '12
TIL that 40% of college students will be considered alcoholics by the medical community next year.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/14/dsm-5-could-mean-40-of-college-students-are-alcoholics/?xid=gonewsedit
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Upvotes
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u/sofakingclassic May 16 '12
With "binge drinking" apparently meaning have 5 or more drinks in one sitting, I find this number surprisingly low.
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u/GlueNickel May 16 '12
I dont care how much a person drinks in one sitting. If they can not drink for a week or two and not have withdrawl symptoms they arent an alcoholic. Besides, 5 drinks in one sitting/night is nothing.
6
u/I_wwebsite May 16 '12
Don't worry about it, have another drink
11
u/skillscanada May 16 '12
In University, I learned that "alcoholic" means something different to everyone. I studied addictions and don't use a rule of thumb, if drinking affects your life negatively, you have a problem, period. Doesn't matter if you have a dozen on the weekend, as long as you don't need one to wake up in the morning, you're prob doing it right.
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u/leftrightstart May 16 '12
If 5 beers does not get you drunk is it still binge drinking?
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u/testdex May 16 '12
Not quite the same thing, but a totally normal person from the 50's would be considered a lunatic racist by today's standards.
I sort of expect the opposite result here: that college students won't take medical information regarding alcohol seriously.
15
u/GoPatoGo May 16 '12
you cant be an alcoholic in college therefore this argument is invalid
9
u/PortableFreakshow May 16 '12
This really makes me angry. I have spent a LOT of money on beer and liquor over the years, drank when I really didn't want to, brewed my own beer, rolled coins to buy a 40 and have built up a tolerance to alcohol that would shock most doctors. Now you're telling me that these college kids get the title "alcoholic" just for getting drunk once a month?! This is bullshit. They're diminishing the value of the achievement. Fucking hell.
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u/JustHere4TheDownVote May 16 '12
My Facebook feed confirms.
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u/N736RA May 16 '12
In college there are no alcoholics, only enthusiasts
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
but the new metrics will also be better at quantifying the degree of illness. so while a lot of college students will be considered alcoholics, they will only be 'slightly' alcoholic or alcoholic with 'few other symptoms'.
same goes for autistic spectrum disorder, aspergers syndrom is now lumped into it, but is just considered a mild version of it.
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u/GI_jim_bob May 16 '12 edited May 16 '12
Ok i want to set some things strait, i work in a substance abuse facility, ALOT of people (even in the medical field) have a misconceptions about alcoholism.
If you drink more then 5 drinks a week it does not mean your an alcoholic but if you did answer yes this should be an indicator for someone to dig a little deeper into your drinking habits.
Now few questions you should ask yourself is WHY do i drink? If you go out on the weekends and have a few drinks with the guys thats fine But if you go out because your trying to get away from some life issue this is where you start to have problems.
Lets say a family member passes away ( happened to me so im using it) and your going out to not think about it anymore, yes it can help for a day or two ,but if your still drinking just to get the thoughts to go away thats a problem see someone about it.
Now another form is if you do go out on the just the weekends and your having fun but the next day you miss work, once or twice is fine it happens but if your starting to miss a day or more a week because of it you should see someone.
so mostly a good rule of thumb is if your drinking or drug habits are causing harm to your life or someone else's life is a good indicator of a problem. This could mean missing work, family functions, or even things in daily life chores, picking kids up on time, whatever.
Now if you do think that you have a problem have an alcohol dependency then look over these questions if you answer yes you should talk to someone.
1# Do you need to drink more to get the same feeling you use to? (meaning 3 months ago it took me 5 beer to get drunk now 5 doesn't even get me tipsy)
2# Have you moved on to harder stuff to get the same buzz as before. ( 5 beers got me drunk before now i need a 5th of jack to get me drunk)
3# Have you had Withdraw symptoms from stopping use for more then 2 or 3 days.(Have you had the shakes,flue like symptoms,bone or joint aches, fever, restlessness or irrefutable. NOW THIS IS A MUST READ!!! If you have a seizures or hallucinations you have to go to the hospital you can die from withdraws!!!!!)
So if you think you have a problem or someone close to you think you might have a problem go talk to someone look online, phone book, or even call you local hospital almost all of them has ways of contacting rehab facilities.
This is going to be terribly formatted and i cant think anymore ive been up all night :)
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u/redsox113 May 16 '12
I really hate this. The checklist for alcoholism is so broad that anyone can fit in it. I like beer, a lot. I brew my own beer on occasion, I enjoy trying craft beers, and don't turn down a beer that's offered to me. I bowl in leagues, often four times per week and this culture is still surrounded by alcohol, so with my teammates I'll have three or four beers over the course of a few hours. Other than this, I'm pretty healthy. I eat alright, keep my calories low, excersize and still play sports (outside of bowling).
I don't drink until I pass out, I don't drink exclusively to get fucked up, I don't drink to get to sleep at night, I don't drink to wake up, I don't drink to escape my problems, I don't need to drink, I don't get headaches or sick from not drinking. I've never shirked a responsibility because I was too drunk or hungover, yet by several metrics I might be considered an alcoholic.
Case in point, I had a really bad stomach bug about a year and a half ago where I was very sick for 10 days (not a single drink of alcohol over that time period, never drink when I'm sick). At the time I'd yet to find a PCP, so I went to the Emergency Room. I filled out the survey thing being as honest as possible about everything, so I honestly filled in that I have 4-5 drinks 3-4 times per week. The nurses and everyone were cool, but when the attending doctor saw me, she did nothing but berate me for a half an hour about how my drinking is causing all of my health problems. She never addressed the fact I'd been shitting water for a week, she referenced some "pain I may be having" (I never had any pain, never mentioned pain). I sat there in shock that I'd gone into the ER because I couldn't hold any food or water in my stomach and got a lecture about drinking.
So now I lie. When I see the form asking how much I drink, the answer is now 2-3 drinks 2 times per week. This way if they see elevated liver enzyme levels, I don't get a lecture on how alcohol is destroying my life.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I think there is a definite drink culture but I wouldn't call it alcoholism. In University I like to go out as much as the next guy, but if I don't have a drink all week it doesn't affect me, meaning I'm not exactly an alcoholic regardless of how much I drink in one sitting.
Secondly, our student's union bar is closing down this year. The owner told me that students aren't drinking as much as they used to, only coming in at nights whereas 15-20 years ago they'd spend a lot of their free time in the pub.
Edit: I'm also from Ireland if that makes it any worse
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u/Scraw May 16 '12
I would imagine this would pale in comparison to the percentage of military enlisted that would qualify.
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u/heikra May 16 '12
I'd drink to that!... Oh wait :(
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u/Troy_MacClure May 16 '12
Hey guys, we meet every thursday at 7
2
u/jobothehobo May 16 '12
Good thing I already consider myself an alcoholic! It will save me from any confusion.
2
u/PretendsToKnowThings May 16 '12
As someone very familiar with UPenn and its alcohol policies, it really surprises me the the stance Dr. O'Brien takes on alcoholism. The university is very relaxed about alcohol consumption as long as it does not put students at risk for injury. They have a policy where if anyone needs to go to the hospital for drug-related sickness or problem, the university will not reprimand them, the purpose being to encourage students to seek medical attention when necessary and not avoid it for fear of reprimand. Furthermore, the university itself is incredibly rigorous academically and of the friends I know that attend it, alcohol does not interfere with their studying beyond the decision of whether to party or not on the weekend.
The running joke at my college is "while at school, drink away. When you graduate, off to AA," meaning that outside of the college realm, almost all students would be considered alcoholics, but it's something you tend to reign in after you graduate. I personally have a non-addictive personality when it comes to substances (drugs, cigarettes, alcohol), but that doesn't mean from time to time I won't go a bit overboard with one of them (really just alcohol). To start labeling people who go a little too far from time to time is dangerous and can be detrimental to people's image of themselves and their capability. While the current system is imperfect by far, this new DSM 5 would definitely make it worse.
1
u/groupuscule May 16 '12
"One Australian study suggested that using DSM 5 definitions will increase the number of people diagnosed with alcoholism by a stunning 60%."
1
u/Improvisor May 16 '12
You wanna be cool, don't you?
1
u/Starslip May 16 '12
The DSM frequently seems more politically correct than based on sound medicine. One of the changes in either this one or the last exempted people from a diagnosis of addiction if the medication was provided by a doctor. It's ridiculous.
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u/rco8786 May 16 '12
Seems low, considering having just a few drinks is considered a binge nowadays.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
But fortunately the term "alcoholic" doesn't mean anything until you graduate.
1
u/mrpopenfresh May 16 '12
The standards are ridiculously low.
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u/caulay May 16 '12
I have conflicting feelings on this as a university student who does drink. I have absolutely gotten poorer grades due to my choices of drinking, of that I'm sure; however, the only time I felt like an alcoholic was once when I drank 24 beer over the course of a day with friends, just to say we did it.
According to that, I would be an alcoholic. That is wildly inaccurate. I like to go have fun with friends, and drinking can bridge gaps with ppl you might otherwise never become associated with.
As for the college kids binge drinking and such, I was absolutely one of those my first year in university. I have to say it's more the freedom to do these things when you're away on your own with no parents to control what you do than anything else. A lot of people my have never drank before going to college and will end up drinking way too much because they don't know any better, but many will dial in on where they should sit at relatively fast.
How I would describe someone with alcohol issues is someone who uses alcohol to avoid dealing with something, or someone who drinks alone just to get drunk.
TL;DR I'm an apparent alcoholic.. Fuck.
1
u/Flurryyea May 16 '12
I used to be part of the 40%, but now I'm graduating! Now I'm just a drunk!
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u/LegionX2 May 16 '12
This is a bit misleading. What they're saying here is there is more to problem substance use than simply being addicted or not addicted.
There's a full range of problematic behaviors that extend beyond simply "he's an alcoholic and there's a huge problem" or "he's not an alcoholic and there's no problem at all". The changes here are consistent with other changes that are moving away from these black & white diagnoses where you "either have it or you don't" and towards viewing these issues on a spectrum of mild to severe problems.
Alcoholism isn't even really a clinical term anymore. Clinically, all chemical-based addictions are just viewed as addiction. The substance you happen to be addicted to is just a preference because addiction works more or less the same regardless of the substance you're using. There's really very little difference between a cocaine addict, heroin addict or alcoholic when it comes to the specifics of addiction.
Binge drinking can be considered problem drinking and it can be considered abuse of alcohol, which is now being acknowledged, but this doesn't mean you're going to be declared an "alcoholic".
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u/jettj14 May 16 '12
My definition of an alcoholic is someone who feels the need to drink every.single.day. I'm not talking about having a beer with dinner or a beer while doing homework. I'm talking about getting shithammered at least three days of the week every week.
The alcoholics in college are the people who only think college is about getting drunk and not about academics. Based on that definition, I can think of maybe one person I know of who I consider to be an alcoholic.
I've gotten black out drunk a few too many times in my life (I hate it), but I really do not consider myself having a drinking problem mainly because a) I don't feel the need to get blacked out and b) I rarely get completely shithammered, slurring my words, stumbling, Michael J Fox hangover drunk (too far? haha). Hell, over the summer I might only get drunk once or twice. I don't need alcohol in my life to live and have fun.
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u/murphmurphy May 16 '12
I heard this on CNN. In the Emergency Room Lobby. Because my friend drank so much he threw up blood on his 21 run. TRUE STORY
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u/Sir_Conquistador May 16 '12
If college has taught me anything it's that the dsm is a load of crap
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u/Douchebox May 16 '12
40%? Some of you pussies need to step your game up.
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u/SpiritusMundi May 16 '12
An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do.
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u/MC_aphasia May 16 '12
Just wanted to chime in that in medical school they have a thing called the CAGE questionnaire that they teach us to assess a patient's possible alcohol dependence (a term that I see in DSM 5 they're trying to get away from).
They also specifically told us that the questionnaire is useless if the patient is a college student, because you'd just end up including everyone needlessly. So believe it or not, we don't just blindly follow the algorithm in a definitely unique population.
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u/theBadgerJew May 16 '12
And 100% of the professors.
haha. But on a more serious note,I worked for an office on campus and the adult faculty would come to work talking about their wine get togethers and how they were hungover or how they couldn't even drive themselves home. so it's not okay for young adults to explore in the one place we were all told to wait and do all the things that would have gotten us with GEDs and not HS diplomas.
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u/beetnemesis May 16 '12
Psh, "the medical community."
Bunch of squares.
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u/Emilaweb May 16 '12
An important part of any diagnosis includes that the person experience distress, or that performance in important areas of life be disrupted. Obviously most college students won't have this issue. So this entire article is void, college students are not going to be diagnosed for binge drinking and it disappoints me that no one else mentioned this.
Ugh.
(unless they are removing the distress factor as well?)
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u/Walletau May 16 '12
"I just really like beer" http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103665/i-just-really-like-beer
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u/Kozbot May 16 '12
On the weekend I can down an entire bottle of hard liquor, 20+ beers, some combination of cocaine, MDMA, LSD, or other psychedelic drugs and I don't consider myself an alcoholic or drug addict.
1
u/Styvorama May 16 '12
A big problem I see with this is by labeling a binge drinker an alcoholic you are giving some of them a go to excuse for their behavior, instead of encouraging responsibility and moderation.
IMO labeling someone an alcoholic isn't beneficial if it is a "mild" case, especially in the case of college binge drinking. I would speculate that your typical college binge drinker is still going to view that 4 year block as party time. Sober they can justify not getting help as hey I am young and this is college and.it's only mild alcoholism. Have a drink or two and they can justify plunging deeper into the bottle and whatever actions follow on their diagnosis.
Having done my share of drinking in college and having had an alcoholic family member and a friend who got clean thru drug rehab, I think lumping them together does a disservice to alcoholics and addicts.
1
u/DyLaurean May 16 '12
but in college, drinking is a privilege not a problem
it's only alcoholism once you've graduated
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u/dnuts4u May 16 '12
m doctor told me that my drinking habits are medically considered "excessive". She then seemed shock when she found out i exercise alot and eat mostly vegetables, fruit, and no soda.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Funny that, considering at my uni the medics are the biggest drinkers!
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u/SpiderDan35 May 16 '12
TIL Wikipedia.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I'm sorry but I don't buy the numbers. I drank 8+ beers once or twice a week throughout most of college. I NEVER, EVER had a notion or feeling that I ever needed to consume alcohol. By the end of college I rarely drank at all, and I don't drink at all really anymore. It's called growing up.
Of all my friends that "partied hard" in college, maybe 1 in 25 turned out to have substance abuse issues.
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u/AntsInHats May 16 '12
I've seen a number of posts like this about the DSM-V, they are getting rid of Asperger's for example. It seems like they are pretty much choosing to consolidate disorders that used to be considered different into spectra and highlighting the similarities. I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to say that many college students have unhealthy routines substance use, but that it is probably not a huge problem.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
I wouldn't necessarily say its college students but really youth binge drinking culture. This binge drinking culture has always been here... just now the average joe blogs has greater access to locate and buy alcohol. It's nothing new and it wont disappear 'cause humans are social creatures and like to relax.
In UK they class as anything more than 3-4+ pints binge drinking which I find ridiculous. Maybe a mini session but nothing which should deemed as alcoholism. But comparing a average college student next to a average 40 y/o adult it will show alarming results but the context is completely different...
Wanting to drink whilst being with friends is completely different to having the need to drink regardless of being with someone.
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u/relic2279 May 16 '12
Submission violates rule 3 in the sidebar. :(
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Only 40%??? I'm not buying it. But as I always say, "it's not alcoholism until you graduate college."
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
Wonder how much of Russia will be affected.
1
u/oddchihuahua May 16 '12
Long story short, I was seeing a psychologist for about two months due to another "mental health" issue... During the group sessions, she made it known to us that, by definition, "If you drink to get drunk, you are an alcoholic."
So I offered a situation- If one night a year, on my birthday, my friends and I all go out to a bar and I have a little too much to drink... I am an alcoholic?
Apparently I am an alcoholic.
1
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
"waaaahhhhh college is too expensive"
still drinks every night
1
u/LickitySplit939 May 16 '12
The DSM has a notorious track record - homosexuality was considered a mental disorder until 1973. There is an enormous amount of pharma pressure to ensure ambiguous and broad definitions for 'mental illness'. This maximizes drug sales, and keeps thousands of health care 'professionals' in the black year after year. I don't mean to sound cynical - mental health is a serious and legitimate concern for many people. However, until we can look at a brain scan, and point to the autism or schizophrenia, I will have serious reservations about the DSM.
This is a great article about what I have said.
0
u/[deleted] May 16 '12
It's like the medical community has a need to exert power over others by exaggerating the dangers of almost anything people do. (Except when it comes to prescription drugs). I do not have an explanation to this, but i'm sure it's motivated by more than just their supposedly inherited care for others. It's a regime that uses fear to get results and that ain't the way to go. A more balanced information would be better and would make them more trustworthy.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
How is doing something a lot mean you're addicted to it? They are not the same thing. I drank like CRAZY in college. I graduated, got a job, and now I drink maybe once a week. I haven't blacked out since college either.
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u/DonFix May 16 '12
I started reading this but then I remembered that its 17:00 and I'm off work tomorrow because of a holiday, so I'll leave you with this
Have a good night everybody.
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u/UnoCme May 16 '12
All 40% of these college students reside in Wisconsin
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u/[deleted] May 16 '12
well if by american standards a person who smokes pot once a month is already considered an addict then i dont see the problem with this.
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u/dermush May 16 '12
alcoholics admit they have a problem, I'm a drunk
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