Miss Benning was a health instructor at the most popular co-educational high school in the region. Although she had been teaching for only one year, she had already established a reputation as an instructor with instructional techniques that motivated and inspired students to learn and to think.
For instance, one Wednesday afternoon she addressed the students in her classroom and stated the following: “For the next three or four days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more broad-based point of view and we are also going to learn about a number of the most common signs of alcoholism from a less general and explicit standpoint.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will absolutely demonstrate that a drinker with a drinking problem is an individual who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that an individual displays, the greater the possibility that he or she is an individual who is alcohol dependent.”
Miss Benning then told the the students that each individual would be responsible for studying three alcohol dependence signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the other members in the class via a five minute oral presentation.
The Pupils are Keyed Up About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Students About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction
After learning about the various alcohol addiction signs for quite a few days, the time had finally come for the student presentations. It was instantaneously obvious that the students were enthused about the subject matter because the information that they presented was exceptional. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the interest exhibited by her students concerning this subject could not be overstated.
The day after all of the pupils 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 students to go over the list and rank the top six alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After around five minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told the pupils in her class that after she analyzes the numbers, she will reveal her findings the next school day.
There was a real buzz by the pupils while they were walking out of Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive so that they could find out the results of their in-class research.
The Students Match Their Numbers Against the Results From A Council of Chemical Dependency Specialists
When the next school day came, Miss Benning gave out a sheet of paper that listed the top four alcohol addiction signs as per the students’ rankings. To the left of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ answer.” She then informed the students in her classroom that the numbers in the additional column she added were the findings that were generated by a group of alcoholism authorities.
Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom to go over the data on the piece of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, issues, or questions. Within 40 or 50 seconds, just about everyone in the classroom raised her or his hand. It was clear to see that the students had some issues, concerns, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. As an illustration, just about every student had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the authorities, specifically, “Do you feel unusually sick when you stop drinking?”
The Primary Difference Between Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then informed the students in her classroom why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcohol dependency. She pointed out that the principal difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol addiction and not with alcohol abuse.
In effect this means that when an alcohol dependent person all of a sudden stops drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then informed her pupils that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficiency of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated differently, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling a person who is alcohol dependent that something is dreadfully wrong and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of a number of uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can possibly result in a loss of life if the proper treatment is not promptly received.
Miss Benning then listed the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when a person who is alcohol dependent abruptly quits drinking.
The point that Miss Benning tried to stress 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, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To articulate this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning stressed the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol dependent people, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Think They Have Discovered A Variance With the Findings From The Team of Alcoholism Experts
The students also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol abuse specialists, specifically, “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 class that this sign does not necessarily signify that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does point to the need that individuals who are addicted to alcohol have to drink in order to steer clear of alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol addicted person, the students started to recognize the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.
To add a sense of closure to the subject, 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 addicted to alcohol knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would obtain alcohol addiction treatment?”
After about two or three minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ predictions. While many students believed that approximately 80 to 90 percent of individuals who are addicted to alcohol would get alcoholism 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 55 percent.
The Pupils Were Astonished to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the United States Obtain Alcohol Addiction Rehabilitation
To the amazement of most of the pupils, Miss Benning stated that according to different scientific examinations, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the United States get alcohol rehab. This astonished most of the pupils because they believed that first hand experience of the shocking statistics and facts related to alcoholism would motivate most 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 on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol everyday so they can keep away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than logic or facts. To be sure, because the craving for alcohol is “reality” to the individual who is alcohol dependent, this is a challenging issue that is difficult to negate.
A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Based on the enthusiasm manifested by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning recognized that she had encouraged and motivated the students in her classroom to stop and think about an essential health and social problem that exists in our society.