Recovery dorms introduce better way to fight peer pressure

An Outsider’s Perspective

A man on a soapbox once told me that temptation was all around us — obviously this man had attended college.

While addiction runs rampant on any campus, it is often swept under the terms "break" or "party." Yet, what happens when that which you use to escape becomes your biggest problem?

Several universities across the nation are now offering so called "recovery dorms" where students who believe they have a serious problem can stay clear of peer pressure.

Yes, peer pressure — the same force that leads you to jump off your balcony because honestly, dude, you can totally land it, actually has negative effects on the health and decision-making skills of other students.

By altering the peer, you thereby change the pressure. Where in a regular dorm, shot-gunning cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon is respected and celebrated, these safer dorms create pillars of sobriety.
More impressive than the thought of these dorms is the fact that students are able to acknowledge their addiction and take the necessary steps to change their lives.

While in no way am I saying drinking in college is necessarily a poor choice, it is important to keep it in check and not allow White Russians to rule your life.

There exists an amazing dichotomy in drinking where a few beers is a solution for one student, yet a problem for another. It is knowing when to stop and the reasoning behind the beverage that divides the two groups. Where one person would pick up a red cup for social reasons, another would chug it to get drunk as soon as possible and retreat from their problems and the real world.

Addiction is not something to take lightly (you certainly know I wished this was a more amusing column), as it makes people feel like they have no control over their lives and actions.

I also wish that I could offer some advice or aids to those with questions, yet I refuse to pull a Dr. Phil and offer unsolicited and unqualified advice to those with true problems. All I can say is that there is absolutely no shame in addiction and there are many people who are willing to help you.

From my somewhat limited psychological knowledge, I do know that "problem" is a relative term. If an adult with a job and children presented the drinking habits of a student, they very well could be labeled as having a problem. Yet in college, the thought is that everyone parties and drinks and, therefore, it is not alcoholism but rather having a good time with your friends. It is still important, however, to examine the motives behind your drinking and your habits as well to see if it is possible that you have a problem.

For some, alcoholism is not simply taking something too far, but rather a genetic issue. For students who see alcoholism rip through their family at many levels, signing up for a safe dorm may in fact be a refuge for them where they can curb the lure of alcohol, as well as deal a preemptive blow to a possible addiction.

It certainly can be said that an effective strategy for educating college students on the dangers of binge drinking has eluded those wishing to teach. If there was a way to tell students how to avoid addiction without sounding amazingly corny and stirring laughs from the audience, this would be something very worthwhile.

As the saying goes, the best offense is a good defense. With that in mind, the best way to battle the dangers associated with binge drinking is to educate students before hand and provide them with examples and stories that they can relate to. By putting everything into a context that students can understand and not be offended by, a great service can be done to reduce the number of alcohol related injuries and deaths among college-age students.

Nathan Chiantella is a junior psychology major.