Blackouts: the nasty secret of weekend drinking

Blackout from drinking on the weekend, recount the incident in class Monday for comic effect.

Samantha Pitman, a peer health educator at Miami University, understands why students spin stories about excessive drinking.

"People can let their hair down in front of their friends and tell all about stupid things they did at a bar," she said. "But when it comes to saying stuff like that (to counselors), they're embarrassed that they made a fool of themselves by blacking out."

According to Aaron M. White, a research professor at Duke University Medical Center, blackouts are periods of amnesia which occur after excessive alcohol consumption. The term doesn't necessarily mean that the individual passes out. Often, they can continue to move and talk, but they don't have any memory of what they do.

"Blackouts occur because alcohol enters the body at a rapid rate," White writes on his alcohol research Web site. "The brain is unable to form new long-term memories" when binge drinking occurs.

White believes that the college culture promotes binge drinking — essentially supporting blackouts.

A survey by the Harvard School of Public Health surveyed 15,000 students at more than 100 colleges, and 51 percent said they experienced at least one blackout during a drinking experience.

"Most kids coming to college see MTV or movies that glorify partying and crazy behavior," Pitman said. "They hear about college parties and think they need to drink and get out of control."

A junior at Miami, who wished to remain anonymous, said he got drunk for a fraternity bonding night. After several shots of liquor and two 40-ounce bottles of beer, he vomited in a trash can — but couldn't remember anything after that point.

"I came back around in someone else's house," he said. "I ... blacked out again."

According to Janice Dyehouse, a nursing professor at the University of Cincinnati, women are more likely to experience a blackout because their brains are affected quicker than males — after only four drinks.

Wendy McGonigal, director of student health service at Wright State University, said she wishes students would end their acceptance of binge drinking.

"I wish I could solve this problem, I really do," McGonigal said. "But it's an enormous problem that won't be solved until it becomes socially unacceptable."

Oxford Press