Miss Benning was a health instructor at the most underfinanced parochial high school in the region. Although she had been teaching for only a few years, she had already established a reputation as an educator with teaching methods that motivated and encouraged students to learn and to think.
As an illustration, one Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 she addressed the students in her class and announced the following: “For the next two weeks we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wind-ranging perspective and we are also going to learn about a number of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a less general and more detailed viewpoint.
Not all of these alcoholism signs will definitely substantiate that someone with a drinking problem is an individual who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that an individual exhibits, the higher the probability that he or she is an alcohol dependent person.”
Miss Benning then explained to the class that each individual would be accountable for examining two alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her findings to the other members in the class via a twenty-five minute oral presentation.
The Pupils are Thrilled About Giving A Comprehensive Presentation to Their Fellow Pupils About The Signs of Alcohol Dependency
After learning about the diverse signs of alcohol dependency for several days, the time had finally arrived for the individual presentations. It was immediately noticeable that her pupils were wound up about the subject matter because the information that they presented was extraordinary. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm manifested by her pupils concerning this subject could not be overstated.
The day after all of the pupils completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcoholism signs that were presented and discussed in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her pupils to go over the list and rank the top five alcohol dependency signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After roughly twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and explained to her pupils that after she assesses the numbers, she will discuss her findings the next school day.
There was some real anticipation by the students while they were leaving Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive so that they could find out the outcome of their in-class research.
The Pupils Compare Their Results With the Assessments From A Panel of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Professionals
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning handed out a piece of paper that listed the top five alcoholism signs according to the students’ rankings. Next to these results, she included another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then explained to her students that the numbers in the second column she added signified the conclusions that were stated publicly by a board of alcoholism experts.
Miss Benning told her pupils to go over the data on the piece of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 30 or 40 seconds, just about every student in the class raised his or her hand. It was obvious that the students had some questions, issues, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. As an illustration, virtually every individual in the class had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, that is to say, “Do you feel extremely sick when you abstain from drinking?”
The Primary Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then explained to her students why this answer was the most unambiguous indicator of alcohol dependency. She highlighted the fact that the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
Essentially this means that when an alcohol dependent individual suddenly quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then explained to the students in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deprivation of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the brain and from the body telling a person who is alcohol dependent that something is extremely wrong and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of several painful, dangerous, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a person’s death if the appropriate therapy is not promptly received.
Miss Benning then listed the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol dependent individual abruptly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to emphasize was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol addiction signs that the students had ranked, but the one sign or symptom that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To explain this as exactly as possible, Miss Benning underscored the point that alcohol abusers, unlike people who are addicted to alcohol, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Pupils Feel They Have Discovered An Irregularity With the Findings From The Panel of Alcohol Dependency Professionals
The pupils also had a problem with the second ranked answer given by the alcoholism professionals, that is to say, “Have you ever had a drink the first thing in the morning to get rid of a hangover or to steady your nerves?”
Miss Benning informed the pupils in her classroom that this sign does not necessarily mean that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underscore the need that alcohol addicted people have to drink in order to steer clear of alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcoholic, the pupils started to grasp the basic difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.
To add a sense of closure to the subject matter, Miss Benning asked the students in her class to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every person who is addicted to alcohol knew about every one of the alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcoholism rehab?”
After about five or six minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils believed that around 80 to 90 percent of alcoholics would obtain alcohol treatment if they knew about the facts related to alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 50 percent.
The Students Were Surprised to Find Out That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Ask For Alcohol Treatment
To the amazement of most of the pupils, Miss Benning mentioned that according to various scientific investigations, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the U.S. ask for alcohol addiction rehab. This amazed most of the students because they believed that exposure to the deplorable facts and statistics correlated with alcoholism would motivate most of the alcohol addicted individuals to ask for alcohol dependency rehabilitation.
Miss Benning then explained that alcoholics not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also need alcohol on a daily basis so they can steer clear of possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than logic or facts. Undeniably, due to the fact that the need for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol addicted person, this is a challenging issue that is hard to reverse.
A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating that the end of class had arrived. Based on the enthusiasm manifested by the students when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning realized that she had inspired and encouraged the pupils in her classroom to stop and think about a noteworthy health and social problem that exists in our culture.
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Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, alcoholism, alcoholism facts, alcoholism signs, signs of alcoholism