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OUDAILY
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MEET NORMAN’S NICK BASQUINE • 10
BEYOND THE
BOTTLE
Students find support for alcohol abuse
T
ony Ndunda used to lose track of time. The passing of a week, sometimes two, was measured in bottles and cans. “I can probably finish threefourths of a 750 mL bottle of vodka, whiskey or whatever, or about a case of 12 beers,” Ndunda said. “Yeah, I can do that in a night.” The days were divided by long walks to the liquor store for the OU chemical engineering senior. Whether under the sun or the stars, it made no difference. The only lights that mattered during those benders were red neon, reading ‘open.’ “(Things were) pretty shit, pretty terCAMPUS RESOURCES r i b l e. I w o u l d just cower in my GODDARD HEALTH CENTER room. I would n o t l e a v e ,” Schedule a counseling Ndunda said. appointment by calling “All I would do 405-325-2911, or visit the is drink. I didn’t Counseling Services front care what was going on around desk on the second floor of the me.” Goddard Health Center. The addiction sneaked up on BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION Ndunda. Like TEAM many other college students, If someone you know is he partied more struggling with addiction, than he thinks contact OU’s Behavioral he should have Intervention Team by filling out and handled his alcohol cona form online or by calling 405sumption in 325-7700. much the same way, he said. NORMAN ADDICTION “I would say INFO & COUNSELING that it’s a onetime thing. Tell Norman Addiction Information myself ‘oh yeah, & Counseling, Inc is open to I’m not the only walk-ins from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. one who does this; this is norMonday through Thursday and mal; ever yone 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. You else does this,’” may also call the center at 405Ndunda said. 321-0022. “And to me, it would seem like it’s normal, but to everyone around me, it doesn’t look normal. I wanted it to be normal. I made myself
MITCHELL WILLETTS • @MITCHBWILLETTS
think it was normal.” Over the months, the social drinking gradually became more solitary. “I’d come home from school, and that’s all I would think about is, ‘okay, when am I going to get my next drink?’” Ndunda said. “(I felt) nothing, just completely numb. Just drink, pass out. Drink, pass out.” Drinking began to affect every facet of Ndunda’s day, his schedule, his thoughts. “You just think about alcohol all the time. Your mind is just always on that, so it distracts you from everything else,” Ndunda said. “So that kind of detracted from a lot of things in my life. I’d miss class or work because I’d be too drunk in the morning, and I would not want to be seen that way outside, so I’d just stay home and keep drinking.” Ky e L e B o e u f , t h e O U Comprehensive Alcohol Program coordinator, said alcohol education is a critical first line of defense for students. “We all need a foundation with which to make judgments, decisions, things like that,” LeBoeuf said. In addition to teaching students about the risks involved in using alcohol, the alcohol program also highlights resources available on and off campus for students who feel they have a substance abuse problem or are at risk of developing one. “I would advise that they reach out, and if nothing else, reach out to counseling here knowing that we have a (licensed alcohol and drug counselor),” LeBoeuf said. “If they are uncomfortable seeking help on campus, again, we do have Norman-based resources, which they could be referred to officially and formally.” Fo r m e r p ro b at i o n o f f i c e r Jackie Jordan serves as OU’s sole LADC and has an understanding of addiction and the mental and emotional landscape in which it thrives. “I’ve once heard it said that relationships last as long as needs are being met,” Jordan said. “The question is, what need is being met by the use of alcohol?” For some, like Ndunda, alcohol abuse started in college, but for others, it began before and blossomed on campus. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 20 percent of college
students suffer from alcohol use disorder, while only 7.2 percent of the general American population meets the same criterion. Alcohol use disorder is characterized by drinking longer than intended and alcohol interfering with family or work, among other things.
“I would say that it’s a one-time thing. Tell myself ‘oh yeah, I’m not the only one who does this; this is normal; everyone else does this.’ And to me, it would seem like it’s normal, but to everyone around me, it doesn’t look normal. I wanted it to be normal. I made myself think it was normal.” TONY NDUNDA, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SENIOR
“So many people think alcohol is not the drug that it is, and it’s the most abused substance in this state. It just happens to be legal,” Jordan said. “Some have been in treatment, but they’re the exception, not the rule. Most have not. I am frequently the first person they’ve ever spoken to about their alcohol and other drug use.” Jordan said loneliness, anxiety and insomnia are three major factors behind substance abuse, and though the causes vary from victim to victim, the symptoms are often the same. “Denial is part of the dise a s e p ro c e ss,” Jo rd a n sa i d . “When you’re looking at a line
of defense, you’re talking about a person who is attempting to maintain their relationship. If the alcohol is meeting a need, then they’re going to protect that relationship. So, to say that someone is in denial, why wouldn’t they be? The last thing they want to do is give up something they perceive is helping.” The admission of dependence and acceptance of disease are the first of many bricks in the reconstruction of a fractured life, an ongoing project that Jordan believes is best not tackled alone, she said. “There’s hope, and there’s help,” Jordan said. “And all it requires is for you to reach out to someone. Do not sit and suffer in silence. There’s help, and there’s hope and resources as close as the University Counseling Center.” Ndunda said he began counseling at the University Counseling Center in the spring of 2015 and went for about six months, though he admits counseling alone was not enough to stop him from slipping. He found Alcoholics Anonymous, a network of people who are addicted or have gotten out of addictions to alcohol, in June. “ Things have be en pretty good so far. I’ve been able to go to school regularly, and my life is starting to come back to normal, basically,” Ndunda said. “(People in AA are) very accepting people. A lot of them have been through this, so they know the situations that you go through, and they know about the cravings and all that stuff.” In the meantime, the cravings have not gone away. They shoulder their way to the forefront when they get the chance, Ndunda said, but people he has connected with are always willing to help him. “When you have more than a few people looking out for you and kind of, like, keeping track of what you’re doing, then it becomes easier because you know it’s more than one person,” Ndunda said. “They understand because they’ve all actually been through it.” Mitchell Willetts
mitchell.b.willetts-1@ou.edu
THE FACTS: Alcoholism and alcohol abuse in college students
20 percent of college students meet the criteria for
an alcohol use disorder. You can assess whether you have an alcohol use disorder with questions like these. In the past year, have you: — Had times when you ended up drinking more or longer than you intended?
— More than once wanted to cut down or stop drinking, or tried to, but couldn’t? — Experienced craving — a strong need, or urge, to drink? — Found that drinking — or being sick from drinking — often interfered with taking care of your home or family? Or caused job troubles? Or school problems?
1 in 4
college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling behind in class, doing poorly on exams or papers and receiving lower grades overall.
1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes.
696,000 students between the ages of 18
and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
97,000 students between the ages of 18
and 24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape. Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism