Miss Benning was a health instructor at the best known parochial high school in the local community. Although she had been teaching for only five years, she had already obtained a reputation as a teacher with instructional methods that stimulated and encouraged pupils to think and to learn.
For example, one Monday morning at 9:00 she addressed the students in her classroom and said the following: “For the next few days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more broad-based viewpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the most typical signs of alcoholism from a less general and more explicit point of view.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will beyond doubt validate that a drinker with a drinking problem is an individual who is alcohol dependent, but the more signs that a person displays, the stronger the possibility that he or she is an alcohol dependent individual.”
Miss Benning then told the members of the class that each student would be held responsible for studying three alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the class via a thirty minute oral presentation.
The Students are Energized About Giving A Comprehensive Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcohol Dependency
After learning about the diverse alcoholism signs for a number of days, the time had arrived for the individual presentations. It was immediately obvious that her pupils were keyed up about the subject because the material that they presented was extraordinary. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the eagerness exhibited by her students concerning this topic could not be overstated.
The day after all of the students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper with a list of all the alcohol dependency signs that were discussed and presented in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her pupils to study the list and rank the top eight alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After around fifteen minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told her students that after she goes over 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 class. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could learn about the results of their in-class research.
The Students Compare Their Numbers With the Assessments From A Board of Alcohol Addiction Authorities
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning handed out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcoholism signs as per the pupils’ rankings. To the left of these results, she included another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then explained to her pupils that the numbers in the second column she added represented the answers that were stated by a team of drug and alcohol abuse experts.
Miss Benning asked her pupils 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 pupil in the class raised his or her hand. It was evident that the students had some concerns, issues, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the experts. For instance, virtually every individual in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, namely, “Do you feel exceptionally sick when you refrain from drinking?”
The Basic Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then told the students in her classroom why this answer was the most straightforward sign of alcoholism. She underlined the fact that the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol addiction and not with alcohol abuse.
Essentially this means that when a person who is alcohol dependent suddenly stops drinking, he or she will go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the body and by the brain to the deficiency of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated differently, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling an alcohol dependent person that something is exceedingly misaligned and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of several dangerous, uncomfortable, and painful withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in someone’s death if the proper treatment is not immediately obtained.
Miss Benning then discussed the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an individual who is alcohol dependent suddenly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to highlight was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcoholism 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 state this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning pointed out that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol dependent individuals, are not alcohol dependent and accordingly, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Pupils Believe They Have Uncovered A Dissimilarity With the Findings From The Group of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Authorities
The students also had a problem with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction professionals, namely, “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 inevitably suggest that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does emphasize the need that alcohol dependent people have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
After Miss Benning explained the relevance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is addicted to alcohol, the students started to understand the main 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 sheet 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 get alcoholism rehabilitation?”
After approximately one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ responses. While many pupils thought that roughly 70 to 80 percent of individuals who are alcohol dependent would obtain alcohol addiction rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 65 percent.
The Pupils Were Surprised to Discover That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the U.S. Seek Alcoholism Rehab
To the shock of most of the students, Miss Benning acknowledged that according to various scientific investigations, only 25% of the individuals who are alcohol dependent in the United States seek alcoholism rehab. This surprised most of the pupils because they reasoned that exposure to the appalling statistics and facts correlated with alcohol addiction would motivate the majority of the individuals who are alcohol dependent to obtain alcoholism rehab.
Miss Benning then explained that individuals who are alcohol dependent not only need alcohol everyday 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. To be sure, because the need for alcohol is “reality” to the alcoholic, this is hard to counteract.
The Combination of Alcohol Dependency and Mental Health Issues Frequently Results in Friendship, Relationship, Divorce, and Marital Problems
Lastly, Miss Benning told the pupils in her class that it is relevant to comprehend that alcoholism and different mental health predicaments like depression are highly associated. Furthermore, the incidence of mental health issues and alcohol dependency regularly result in friendship, relationship, divorce, and marital problems.
The Pupils are Enthused to Learn About Alcohol Addiction Signs and Symptoms in Today’s Society
A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating that the end of class had arrived. Based on the excitement displayed by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning recognized that she had encouraged and inspired the students in her class to stop and think about a noteworthy health and social problem that exists in our country.
