Miss Benning was a health instructor at the best known co-ed high school in the county. Even though she had been teaching for only one year, she had already achieved a reputation as a person with teaching approaches that stimulated and motivated the pupils in her class to learn and to think.
For instance, one Monday morning at 9:30 she addressed the pupils in her class and articulated the following: “For the next week we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general point of view and we are also going to learn about several of the most familiar signs of alcoholism from a more detailed standpoint.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will definitely demonstrate that a drinker with a drinking problem is an alcohol addicted person, but the more signs that a drinker manifests, the greater the likelihood that he or she is an alcoholic.”
Miss Benning then explained to the members in the class that each individual would be held responsible for examining two alcohol dependence signs and then presenting his or her findings to the other class members via a twenty-five minute oral presentation.
The Students are Energized About Giving A Thorough Presentation to Their Fellow Pupils About Alcohol Addiction Signs
After learning about the various signs of alcoholism for a number of days, the time had arrived for the student presentations. It was instantaneously evident that her pupils were enthused about the subject because the information that they presented was exceptional. 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 students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol addiction signs that were discussed and presented in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked her students to go over the list and rank the top seven alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After around ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to her students that after she evaluates the results, she will present her findings the next school day.
There was a real buzz by the students while they were leaving Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive so that they could learn about the results of their in-class research.
The Pupils Contrast Their Answers With the Evaluations From A Board of Alcohol Dependency Experts
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning gave out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcohol addiction signs according to the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she added another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then explained to the students in her class that the numbers in the extra column she added stood for the responses that were given by a team of alcoholism professionals.
Miss Benning asked the pupils in her class to look over the information on the piece of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any questions, issues, or concerns. Within 10 or 20 seconds, almost every student in the class 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 professionals. As an illustration, virtually every individual in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, that is, “Do you feel exceedingly sick when you refrain from drinking?”
The Foremost Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then informed her students why this answer was the most straightforward sign of alcohol addiction. She underscored the fact that the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.
Basically this means that when an alcohol dependent person abruptly quits drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then informed the pupils 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 accustomed. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling a person who is addicted to alcohol that something is very misaligned and needs to be fixed. These signals consist of several painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can possibly lead to someone’s death if the proper therapy is not immediately received.
Miss Benning then discussed the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol dependent individual suddenly quits drinking.
The point that Miss Benning tried to emphasize was this: a person who engages in alcohol abuse can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol addiction 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 plainly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Feel They Have Discovered An Abnormality With the Findings From The Panel of Chemical Dependency Specialists
The pupils also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction specialists, to be exact, “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 pupils in her classroom that this sign does not inevitably indicate that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does stress the need that alcoholics have to drink in order to avoid alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
After Miss Benning explained the significance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol addicted individual, the pupils started to grasp the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the students in her class to take out a sheet of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is an alcoholic knew about every one of the alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol dependency treatment?”
After approximately three or four minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ responses. While many pupils reasoned that roughly 80 to 90 percent of individuals who are alcohol dependent would ask for alcohol dependency rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the students believed that this number would not be less than 70 percent.
The Students Were Amazed to Learn That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Get Alcohol Rehabilitation
To the surprise of most of the pupils, Miss Benning declared that according to various scientific studies, only 25% of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol in the United States obtain alcohol addiction treatment. This astonished most of the students because they figured that exposure to the abysmal statistics and facts linked to alcoholism would motivate the majority of the alcohol addicted individuals to get alcohol dependency rehab.
Miss Benning then explained that alcohol addicted individuals not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also require alcohol on an everyday basis so they can prevent possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol dependent person’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. Indeed, because the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol addicted person, this is difficult to negate.
A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating the end of the class. Based on the enthusiasm exhibited by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning recognized that she had encouraged and stimulated her students to stop and think about a significant health and social problem that exists in our country.
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