Dr. Drew speaks at RHA's 'Breaking Point'

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Practicing what he preaches, Drew Pinsky came Monday night to Wharton Center and offered an intimate, interactive and interpersonal discussion on student health and relationships.

Pinsky, better known as Dr. Drew and for his radio and TV shows, is a practicing medical doctor specializing in addiction medicine and therapy. He was brought to campus by Residence Halls Association to be the feature speaker for “The Breaking Point.”

“The Breaking Point” is an event put on by RHA that aims to educate students about mental health issues including where to go for help.

RHA’s director of public relations and advertising Melissa Hackett said when brainstorming for the guest speaker began, Pinsky was their first choice.

“The main message basically is to understand that it’s not abnormal to feel stressed in college, to feel anxious,” Hackett said. “There’s so many resources available that you can use to help you out with that.”

To further de-stress students, RHA offered massages by HandWorks Massage Therapy, hosted interactive sessions for students to talk to counselors and set up a table giving out stress balls, T-shirts, laundry hampers and flip-flops.

Animal science freshman Jordan Palsrok came because he was specifically excited to hear what Pinsky had to say.

“I love Dr. Drew — I’m so excited,” Palsrok said. “I see him on TV — he’s just like so cool and calm but he tells it how it is, he’s really honest.”

Pinsky spoke for an hour and a half and afterward answered questions relating to drug problems and relationships, as well as questions pertaining to his career.

Pinsky stressed the importance of face-to-face communication and intimacy in relationships to combat narcissism.

“That’s the problem I see in so much of the world today — that because they abandon intersubjective, interpersonal experience, they end up narcissistically inclined,” Pinsky said.

Math junior Hannah Harris and first-year veterinary medicine student Keith Burge liked that Pinsky was able to relate so well with students.

“For a guy that works a lot with celebrities and a lot with addictions and very traumatic things, he’s very personable and very funny and could definitely relate to the college student,” Harris said.

They said that the most important thing they will take away from the talk was to not be afraid to seek help from counselors and that being stressed is normal.

“Just go talk to someone and figure out what it is because it may be nothing or it may be something but you’ve got to figure it out,” Burge said. “Everybody’s going through the exact same thing.”

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