On Students' Drinking
I was saddened to read in the New York Times of Sunday,
February 14, 1988, that a Princeton student recently almost died from
an alcohol-induced coma. At the same time, it was heartening to read
about the initial steps taken by both the eating club at which he was
drinking and the university administration. having had the privilege
of treating as patients many talented and gifted individuals who had
over the years engaged in self-destructive and even reckless use of alcohol,
it is clear that a critical period for getting help is that stage of
life called "college."
The profound physiologic sensitivity of some individuals to alcohol comes
with a set of remarkable talents and capabilities. My guess is that this
genetic linkage is the evolutionary raison d'etre for the survival of
this susceptibility. A program of guided self-inquiry, designed to highlight
alternatives to self-defeating behavior and to expand on the formidable
gifts of the individuals in question can be an important step in the
growth and development that are the finest accompaniments of a university
education.
Harold J. Bursztajn, M.D. '72
Cambridge, Mass