On Monday, Feb. 16, Miami University had the honor of hosting a renowned psychiatrist we all may know from “Celebrity Rehab” or MTV’s “Teen Mom” reunion shows. Dr. Drew Pinsky came to talk to students about how easy it is to become addicted to something and how prevalent substance abuse is on college campuses. He also brought up instincts. We always hear our parents and friends tell us to follow our intuition, because it’s always right, but never seem to actually do so. But how does all of this tie together? For instance, think about the hookup culture. Have you ever stopped to think about how big of a factor alcohol plays into this negative stereotype? Dr. Drew’s lecture series did just that.
Ladies, you know what we’re talking about. You see a cute boy on campus, but can’t muster up the guts to talk to him. So what do you do? You wait until the next time you go out, work up the liquid courage to approach him, and before you know it, you wake up in his bed. Dr. Drew led a discussion amongst the audience members to get their take on why modern students choose to only hook-up when they are intoxicated as opposed to starting off with sober interactions. Many, and we mean MANY, said they choose to do so because alcohol suppresses anxiety and emotional connections that come with sexual relationships.
In Dr. Drew’s opinion, we should stray away from behaviors that inhibit the realness and truth that relationships provide us with. While many of us think it’s our drunken instinct telling us to make poor choices, some do not realize that intensity and arousal are not associated with instinct. Now is the time to actually listen to and be in touch with your gut feelings because they’ll never steer you wrong.