Miss Benning was a health instructor at the best known private high school in the district. Even though she had been teaching for only three years, she had already achieved a reputation as a teacher with educational approaches that inspired and encouraged the students in her class to think and to learn.

As an illustration, one Wednesday morning she addressed her pupils and announced the following: “For the next week we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging standpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the most familiar signs of alcoholism from a more specific point of view.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will definitely show that an individual with a drinking problem is a person who is alcohol dependent, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the stronger the probability that he or she is an individual who is alcohol dependent.”

Miss Benning then told the class members that each pupil would be accountable for studying two alcohol dependence signs and then presenting his or her results to the other members in the class via a twenty-five minute oral presentation.

The Students are Enthused About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcoholism

After learning about the various alcohol addiction signs for quite a few days, the time had finally arrived for the individual presentations. It was at once noticeable that her students were thrilled about the subject matter because the material that they presented was extraordinary. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the passion manifested by the pupils in her classroom concerning this topic was an understatement.

The day after all of the students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol dependency signs that were discussed and presented in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her class to study the list and rank the top six alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After around ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and informed the pupils in her classroom that after she evaluates the results, she will discuss her findings the next school day.

There was a real buzz by the pupils while they were exiting Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could find out the outcome of their in-class research.

The Students Match Their Answers Against the Results From A Panel of Chemical Dependency Specialists

When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning handed out a sheet of paper that listed the top five alcohol addiction signs as per the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ answer.” She then told her students that the numbers in the new column she added were the conclusions that were articulated by a group of substance abuse experts.

Miss Benning told her pupils to look over the information on the piece of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any questions, concerns, or issues. Within a minute or two, almost every pupil in the classroom raised her or his hand. It was apparent that the pupils had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the experts. For example, virtually every individual in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, to be precise, “Do you feel really nauseous when you stop drinking?”

The Most Important Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcohol addiction. She pointed out the fact that the basic difference between alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol addiction and not with alcohol abuse.

Basically this means that when an individual who is addicted to alcohol abruptly stops drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then told her students that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the lack of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling an alcohol addicted person that something is very incorrect and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of several uncomfortable, dangerous, and painful withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in a fatality if the appropriate therapy is not promptly obtained.

Miss Benning then went over the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an alcoholic suddenly quits drinking.

The point that Miss Benning tried to highlight 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 clearly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they stop drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Feel They Have Found A Variance With the Findings From The Panel of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Professionals

The pupils also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol dependency specialists, to be precise, “Have you ever had a drink the first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?”

Miss Benning told her students that this sign does not automatically indicate that the problem is alcohol dependency, but that it does highlight the need that people who are addicted to alcohol have to drink in order to stay away from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is addicted to alcohol, the pupils started to comprehend the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.

To add a sense of closure to the subject, Miss Benning asked the pupils in her classroom to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would seek alcohol addiction rehab?”

After approximately three or four minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ responses. While many pupils believed that approximately 80 to 90 percent of alcohol dependent individuals would get alcohol dependency rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs, most of the pupils figured that this number would not be less than 70 percent.

The Students Were Astonished to Learn That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the U.S. Ask For Alcohol Dependency Treatment

To the surprise of most of the pupils, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to different scientific studies, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the United States obtain alcoholism treatment. This astonished most of the students because they figured that first-hand knowledge of the gruesome statistics and facts correlated with alcoholism would motivate most of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol to seek alcohol addiction rehab.

Miss Benning then stated that alcoholics not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol everyday so they can steer clear of possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. Definitely, due to the fact that the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the person who is addicted to alcohol, this is a demanding issue that is difficult to change.

A few minutes later the bell rang, signifying the end of the class. Based on the buzz exhibited by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning knew that she had inspired and motivated the pupils in her class to stop and think about a vital health and social problem that exists in our country.

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