A student who thinks he or she is far from being an alcoholic may be the one in every five people to be diagnosed with alcohol dependence.

According to a study done by Harvard School of Public Health, 6 percent of college students meet the standards for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence, or alcoholism. The study found that more than two of every five students have at least one symptom of alcohol dependence, putting them at an increased risk for developing an alcohol disorder.

Steve Lux, health educator at Health Services, said he is opposed to the survey.

“I think they’re trying to make the problem worse than it is,” Lux said.

Lux said alcohol is the most abused drug in our culture, but most people can drink without experiencing any serious problems if they’re drinking responsibly.

Alcohol industry organizations and other alcohol educators also question the survey.

The survey classifies men who have had five or more, or women who have had four or more drinks in a row at least once in a two week period, as heavy episodic drinkers, or binge drinkers.

Alcohol industry organizations and alcohol educators question the amount of drinks as being too low to consider someone a binge drinker.

Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., principal investigator of the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), is worried about the results of the survey.

“The findings that so many students are diagnosable as alcohol dependent or alcohol abusers indicate that the drinking levels of too many students are dangerously high,” Wechsler said.

The survey also stated that only 6 percent of students diagnosed with alcohol dependence reported they had gotten treatment.

Lux explained the people who drink vary, and most drinkers drink in a responsible manner. If a person questions whether or not they have a problem, Lux said, there are many ways to get help.

At NIU, Lux said, there is a counseling center specifically for alcohol abuse, and a new Web site, mystudentbody.com, to check out the facts without getting counseled.

The Web site gives students facts about alcoholism and the risks that students might want to know.

To enter the site, students must first create their own account, made simple by following step-by-step instructions. Students are to use niuhuskie as the school code.

After creating an account, students can personally rate their own expectations, risks, consequences and effects of drinking alcohol.

The site also includes FAQs with answers from experts.

Lux said he encouraged students to explore the site, because there are a lot of useful facts about alcohol that students might not know.