The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 32, Ed. 1 Friday, October 23, 1987 Page: 2 of 6
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Commentary
■ "f •-' ■■
The North Texas Daily
—
Page 2
Friday, October 23, 1987
Common sense saves lives
Can you pass the Equivalency Aptitude Test?
Reprinted with permission from The Will Rogers Institute,
White Plains, New York.
How responsible are college students about drinking?
Passing the Equivalence Aptitude Test (E.A.T.) is a key
measure of how much students know about alcohol
consumption.
To pass the E.A T. you must know this simple but
crucial formula: The most common servings of beer (12
ounces), wine (5 ounces) and distilled spirits (1 ‘/z ounces)
contain equal amounts of alcohol.
Why is passing the E.A.T. and being part of National
Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week so important? To
be responsible, everyone needs to know facts, not myths
about alcohol.
Far too many accidents are caused by young people
who get behind the wheel of a car thinking “I’m fine.
1 only had a few beers.” Such misinformation is all
too often deadly. Maybe that’s why 50 percent of all
driving fatalities are caused by drunk drivers. And why
two-thirds of all those arrested for DWI “just had a
few beers.”
These common sense college survival tips may also
save lives during the school year:
Don’t drive after your next tailgate party or happy
hour —whether you’ve had beer, wine or distilled
spirits. One American dies in an alcohol-related traffic
accident every 35 minutes. Better walk an extra mile or
spend the night at a friend’s than risk taking lives on the
road.
Eat something —never drink on an empty stomach.
Eat before you go to a party; eat while you’re there.
Solid food like cheese can slow down the alcohol
absorption rate. If you’re throwing a party, serve lots of
munchies and plenty of mixers.
Don’t be pushed into drinking more than you can handle
and don’t pressure your friends to keep up with you.
Everyone has an individual tolerance. Let your friends
pace themselves.
Keep a watchful eye: If you’re mixing your own drink
use a shot giass to measure the liquor.
Know yourself and your mood. If you rarely drink,
chugging a few beers will affect you faster than it would
affect someone who is accustomed to drinking. Your
mood can also influence the way you react to a drink. If
you’re depressed over a test, drinking will depress you
further.
Here are some common and dangerous myths about
alcohol that should be dispelled:
Myth #1. You can pace yourself by switching from
liquor to beer or wine. Wrong. You consume the same
amount of alcohol —and can get just as drunk —from
common servings of beer, wine and liquor.
Myth #2. Coffee can sober you up if you’re drunk.
Wrong again. Coffee may wake you up, but it won’t
sober you up. If you drink one too many and then have
a cup of coffee and drive, you are just a wide-awake
drunk behind the wheel. Also, taking a cold shower won’t
do the trick either. That’s only going to make you a wet
drunk.
Outlook
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Alcoholism on Campus
^Children of substance abusers
not weird, not unique, not alone
T
“If people are going to
drink, they're going to drink.
No matter where there's
alcohol, people are under
age and they're going to
drink if they want to. ”
—Mary Morton,
Houston senior.
"Organizations might do
something—maybe not have
alcohol beverages at
parties. The administration
might have alcoholics talk
about the problem."
—Wanda Fields,
Dallas senior.
By Joy Jones
Staff Writer
Recent statistics indicate that there are about 25 million
adult children of alcoholics in the United States—about
10 percent of the adult population, Dr. Bob Hay,
counseling psychologist in the Counseling and Testing
Center, said Tuesday.
“On a campus the size of NT, that translates into a
whole lot of our students who were raised in families
with at least one chemically dependent parent,” he
said.
With a student population of nearly 23,000. there
could conceivably be more than 2,000 students at NT
who are children of alcoholics.
In response to the magnitude of the problem, the
Counseling and Testing Center will sponsor a therapy
group for adult children of alcoholics beginning next
Tuesday, Hay said. The group will meet once a week
until Thanksgiving.
“The purpose of the group is to show these in-
dividuals that there are common threads among adult
children of substance abusers . . . things that they all
carry with them,” he said.
“The group experience will give them a different
way of looking at themselves ... they often feel that
their situation is very unique and that no one else has
the same problems they do.”
Children of alcoholics need to realize three important
things, Hay said. "They need to know that they’re
not weird, they’re not unique and they’re not alone,”
he said.
Hay said that although these individuals benefit from
both individual and group therapy, group therapy provides
the added benefit of peer interaction.
“All the people in the NT group are currently seeing
a counselor and have been in individual therapy,” he
said. “But the information that we (the counselors)
are giving them is often much more convincing coming
from peers who have been in the same situation.”
He said that most of the adult children of alcoholics
he sees in the center share several common charac-
teristics.
“They are usually the students who are very active
in school activities and are high achievers, yet they
feel a sense of emptiness and a lack of satisfaction,”
Hay said. “They tend to put the needs of others before
their own needs, but they never feel like they’re doing
enough.”
Hay said there are still a few spaces available in the
group but said the center has a fairly long waiting list
for general counseling. Any NT student in need of
counseling may call the center at 565-2741. The center’s
services are provided to students free of charge.
Information about alcoholism and its effect on family
members is available from several community sources,
including Denton County Mental Health Services at
565-8629 or 387-0323, the Dallas Council on Alcoholism
and Drug Abuse at (214) 638-7090 and Tarrant Council
on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at (817) 332-6329.
Most Alcoholics Anonymous groups offer Al-Anon
groups for families of alcoholics. In Denton, the central
number for Alcoholics Anonymous is 566-9110. In Dallas
the number of the central A A office is (214) 956-7333.
The Denton AA “Show Me" Group at 566-9989
has information about group meetings specifically for
adult children of alcoholics.
Offspring share common characteristics
By Joy Jones
Staff Writer
The causes of alcoholism and methods of treating it
are often disputed among health care professionals, but
most of them agree alcoholism is a family disease. If
one person is an alcoholic, every member of the family
will probably be adversely affected.
In her book “Adult Children of Alcoholics,” Dr.
Jane Woititz identifies several common characteristics
exhibited by adult children of alcoholics. These traits
include procrastination, excessive need for control,
habitual impulsive behavior, lying and extreme per-
fectionism.
Dallas psychotherapist Gail Donoff, who is certified
by the state and specializes in the treatment of substance
abuse, said in a recent interview: “Employee assistance
program statistics show that at least 50 percent of all
clients seen by EAP providers arc adult children of
alcoholics.”
Many large corporations provide employee assistance
programs for workers and family members who have
problems with alcohol or drug abuse.
“Adult children of alcoholics are typically over-
achievers who are very serious,” Donoff said. “They
are often very loyal, even when that loyalty is un-
deserved.
“Typically they blame themselves for the situation
... I’ve had patients say that when they were children
they thought that maybe if they made straight A’s, they’d
come home and Mom or Dad wouldn’t be drunk.”
She said these people are frequently depressed, and
they usually seek therapy when they are confronted with
a crisis situation—a divorce, death in the family, etc.
Donoff said children of alcoholics have trouble dealing
with crisis situations because their perception of reality
is distorted. “They never had a normal family situation,
so they don’t know how to react when a crisis hits.
“These kids never completed their adolescence, in
most cases. They went directly from childhood to
adulthood because it was the only way they could
survive,” she said. “In many cases, they take the
place of the alcoholic parent in the family. They feel
terribly responsible for everone and everything around
them.
"Because they had no normal role models, they’re not
real sure how to act in a family. They often marry alco-
holics or other children of alcoholics . . . and frequently
they have problems parenting their own kids,” she said.
More information about alcoholism's effect on children
and other family members is availblc from the Counseling
and Testing Center at 565-2741
"It (drinking) is not a
general problem, it’s an
individual problem. It’s an
individual decision to drink
or not."
—Stephanie Shaw,
Dallas sophomore.
■
4
“Students think when
they go off to college it's for
partying. Really, it’s for
education. That’s what’s
steering them wrong."
—Derrick Ellis,
Dallas sophomore.
"I know there's been an
effort to call people's at-
tention to drinking. It can be
a problem if everybody goes
out and everybody gets
drunk. Then who drives?”
—Jan Crews, Rome,
Ga. graduate student.
"I think it’s advantageous
for students to get it
(drinking) out of their
system. It's unfortunate that
it happens on campus when
they're first away from
home, because they should
be channelling their energies
toward good study habits."
—Owen Chesser,
Denton freshman.
“I think a lot of students
drink and drive too much,
not taking into account the
consequences of what
they're doing. I think the
university can do something
about it. Maybe a class for
some credits."
—Brent Smith,
Grapevine sophomore.
"Since the drinking age
went up, we (residence
assistants) are really strict
on the use of alcohol in the
dorm. The campus should
not be so forceful by just
saying ‘no.’ Instead help
them to use it in modera-
tion. "
—Buddy Bates,
McKinney senior.
"At many campuses, I
would say the parties are a
contributing factor to the use
of alcohol. Unless they're
going to stop partying with
alcohol, it will continue to be
a problem."
—Richard Copeland,
Dallas junior.
“I think there is a real
danger. It’s really insidious
how it creeps up on people.
Unless you're very strong
willed, it can do terrible
harm. Unless students are
exposed to it, they don't
know about the dangers."
—Jean Crabille,
Willis Library staff.
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Dowlearn, Laura. The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 32, Ed. 1 Friday, October 23, 1987, newspaper, October 23, 1987; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth561264/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.