Miss Benning was a health instructor at the best known co-educational high school in the county. Even though she had been teaching for only one year, she had already established a reputation as an educator with teaching approaches that inspired and encouraged the pupils in her class to think and to learn.

As an illustration, one Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 she addressed the pupils in her class and stated the following: “For the next few days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general perspective and we are also going to learn about several of the most common signs of alcoholism from a more specific viewpoint.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will undeniably confirm that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcoholic, but the more signs that an individual displays, the stronger the possibility that he or she is an alcoholic.”

Miss Benning then told the members of the class that each student would be accountable for investigating four 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 Students are Thrilled About Giving A Broad-Based Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcoholism

After learning about the diverse signs of alcoholism for quite a few days, the time had arrived for the individual presentations. It was immediately clear to see that her pupils were excited about the subject because the material that they presented was excellent. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the fervor exhibited by her students concerning this topic was an understatement.

The day after all of the pupils completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a sheet 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 study the list and rank the top eight alcohol dependency signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After about twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and told the students in her classroom that after she goes over the results, she will present her findings the next school day.

There was some real excitement by the pupils while they were walking out of Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could learn about the results of their in-class research.

The Students Contrast Their Answers With the Assessments From A Team of Alcohol Dependency Authorities

When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcohol dependency signs as per the students’ rankings. To the left of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then explained to her students that the numbers in the new column she added represented the responses that were stated publicly by a board of alcohol addiction professionals.

Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom to go over the information on the sheet 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 student in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was evident that the pupils had some issues, questions, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the authorities. For instance, just about every student disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, to be exact, “Do you feel extremely ill when you stop drinking?”

The Foremost Difference Between Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then explained to the students in her classroom why this answer was the most straightforward indicator of alcohol addiction. She highlighted the fact that the key difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.

In essence this means that when an alcoholic suddenly stops drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the body and by the brain to the deprivation of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated differently, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the body and from the brain telling an individual who is alcohol dependent that something is very out of kilter and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of a number of painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in a loss of life if the proper therapy is not promptly undertaken.

Miss Benning then went over the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol addicted person abruptly stops drinking.

The point that Miss Benning tried to underline was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol dependency signs that the students had ranked, but the one symptom or sign that few, if any, alcohol abusers ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To explain this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning stressed the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike individuals who are addicted to alcohol, are not alcohol dependent and accordingly, when they stop drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Feel They Have Discovered A Discrepancy With the Findings From The Team of Substance Abuse Professionals

The students also had an issue with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol addiction specialists, that is, “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 the students in her class that this sign does not inevitably suggest that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does highlight the need that alcohol addicted individuals have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcoholic, the students started to comprehend the basic difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

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

After about one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ predictions. While many students figured that around 75 to 85 percent of people who are alcohol dependent would ask for alcoholism rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the students believed that this number would not be less than 65 percent.

The Students Were Shocked to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the United States Get Alcohol Addiction Rehab

To the shock of most of the pupils, Miss Benning acknowledged that according to different scientific studies, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the United States obtain alcoholism treatment. This amazed most of the pupils because they figured that first hand experience of the appalling statistics and facts correlated with alcoholism would motivate the majority of the alcoholics to seek alcohol addiction rehabilitation.

Miss Benning then stated that individuals who are addicted to alcohol not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also need alcohol on an everyday basis so they can keep away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcohol addicted person’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. Definitely, since the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol dependent person, this is a challenging issue that is hard to undo.

A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating that the end of class had arrived. Based on the enthusiasm manifested by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning recognized that she had stimulated and motivated the pupils in her classroom to stop and think about a critical health and social problem that exists in our culture.

Be Sociable, Share!

•