A Health Teacher in the Most Popular Co-Educational High School in the District Teaches Her Students About the Significance of Alcohol Addiction Signs
Miss Benning was a health teacher at the largest co-ed high school in the county. Even though she had been teaching for only four years, she had already secured a reputation as a person with instructional approaches that motivated and stimulated 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 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 some of the most basic signs of alcoholism from a less general and more detailed viewpoint.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will categorically validate that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcohol addicted individual, but the more signs that a drinker displays, the stronger the probability that he or she is an individual who is addicted to alcohol.”
Miss Benning then told the students in the class that each student would be responsible for investigating three alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the other members in the class via a ten minute oral presentation.
The Pupils are Thrilled About Giving A Thorough Presentation to Their Fellow Students About Alcohol Dependency Signs
After learning about the different alcohol addiction signs for several days, the time had finally arrived for the student presentations. It was instantaneously noticeable that the pupils were excited about the subject because the information that they presented was first-rate. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the excitement exhibited by the pupils in her class regarding this topic was an understatement.
The day after all of the pupils completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol addiction signs that were presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the students in her class to go over the list and rank the top six alcohol dependency signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After roughly twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and informed her students that after she evaluates the results, she will reveal her findings the next school day.
There was some real excitement by the students while they were exiting Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could learn about the outcome of their in-class research.
The Pupils Contrast Their Numbers With the Assessments From A Group of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Specialists
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning handed out a piece of paper that listed the top five alcohol addiction signs according to the students’ rankings. To the left of these results, she included another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then informed her pupils that the numbers in the additional column she added stood for the responses that were put together by a group of substance abuse authorities.
Miss Benning told her pupils to look over the information on the piece of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any questions, issues, or concerns. Within 10 or 20 seconds, just about everyone in the class raised her or his hand. It was evident that the pupils had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the experts. As an illustration, just about every pupil had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the authorities, to be precise, “Do you feel extremely nauseous when you abstain from drinking?”
The Major Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then told the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most unambiguous indicator of alcohol dependency. She highlighted the fact that the main difference between alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
Fundamentally this means that when an alcohol addicted individual suddenly stops drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then explained to her pupils that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficit of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the body and from the brain telling an individual who is addicted to alcohol that something is extremely wrong and needs to be fixed. These signals consist of a number of dangerous, painful, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can possibly lead to someone’s death if the appropriate therapy is not promptly received.
Miss Benning then discussed the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an alcohol dependent person abruptly quits drinking.
The point that Miss Benning tried to emphasize was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcoholism signs that the students had ranked, but the one symptom or sign that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To explain this as plainly as possible, Miss Benning stressed the point that alcohol abusers, unlike individuals who are alcohol dependent, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Feel They Have Found An Irregularity With the Findings From The Board of Substance Abuse Specialists
The pupils also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the substance abuse authorities, to be precise, “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 told the pupils in her classroom that this sign does not automatically signify that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does highlight the need that alcohol addicted individuals have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the significance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the individual who is addicted to alcohol, the students started to comprehend the fundamental difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.
To add a sense of closure to the subject, Miss Benning asked the pupils in her class to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every person who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcohol rehabilitation?”
After roughly four or five minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils figured that around 75 to 85 percent of individuals who are alcohol dependent would seek alcoholism treatment if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs, most of the pupils figured that this number would not be less than 50 percent.
The Pupils Were Shocked to Discover That Only 25% of People Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Get Alcohol Treatment
To the astonishment of most of the pupils, Miss Benning mentioned that according to different scientific examinations, only 25% of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol in the U.S. get alcohol treatment. This amazed most of the pupils because they figured that first hand experience of the awful facts and statistics linked to alcoholism would motivate the majority of the alcoholics to seek alcohol treatment.
Miss Benning then stated that alcohol addicted people not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol everyday so they can stay away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger 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 challenging issue that is hard to negate.
A few minutes later the bell rang, meaning that the end of class had arrived. Based on the excitement manifested by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning realized that she had stimulated and inspired the students in her class to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our society.
Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, alcoholism, alcoholism facts, alcoholism signs, signs of alcoholism