Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most underfinanced co-ed high school in the region. Although she had been teaching for only a few years, she had already secured a reputation as a person with educational approaches that motivated and stimulated her pupils to learn and to think.
As an illustration, one Thursday morning at 8:00 she addressed the students in her class and stated the following: “For the next two or three days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general standpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the most common signs of alcoholism from a more specific point of view.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will categorically establish that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcohol dependent individual, but the more signs that a drinker manifests, the greater the likelihood that he or she is an alcohol dependent person.”
Miss Benning then told the class that each person would be held responsible for investigating four alcohol dependence signs and then presenting his or her results to the class via a six minute oral presentation.
The Pupils are Energized About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About Alcohol Addiction Signs
After learning about the different signs of alcohol dependency for quite a few days, the time had come for the individual presentations. It was immediately apparent that the pupils were thrilled about the subject because the material that they presented was excellent. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the fervor exhibited by the pupils in her classroom regarding this subject was an understatement.
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 class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her class to go over the list and rank the top seven alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After roughly ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told the students in her classroom that after she evaluates the numbers, she will present her findings the next school day.
There was some real excitement by the students while they were exiting Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could find out the results of their in-class research.
The Students Compare Their Numbers With the Assessments From A Council of Chemical Dependency Professionals
When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning gave out a sheet of paper that listed the top three alcohol addiction signs according to the pupils’ rankings. To the right of these results, she included another column that was labeled “experts’ answer.” She then explained to the students in her classroom that the numbers in the extra column she added represented the responses that were articulated by a council of alcoholism authorities.
Miss Benning asked the students in her class to go over the information on the sheet of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, issues, or questions. Within 10 or 20 seconds, just about everyone in the class raised her or his hand. It was evident that the students had some questions, concerns, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the professionals. For example, just about every individual in the classroom had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the authorities, to be exact, “Do you feel unusually nauseous when you stop drinking?”
The Principal Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her class why this answer was the most accurate sign of alcoholism. She pointed out the fact that the most important difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.
Basically this means that when an alcoholic all of a sudden stops drinking, he or she will go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then told the students in her classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the body and by the brain to the deficit of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated more explicitly, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the brain and from the body telling an individual who is addicted to alcohol that something is extremely misaligned and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of several dangerous, painful, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a loss of life if the proper treatment is not immediately obtained.
Miss Benning then went over the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an alcohol addicted person suddenly stops 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 dependency 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 explain this as plainly as possible, Miss Benning underscored the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted people, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they quit drinking, they almost never experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Pupils Feel They Have Discovered A Discrepancy With the Findings From The Council of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Specialists
The students also had an issue with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol abuse professionals, to be precise, “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 automatically indicate that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does emphasize the need that alcohol dependent people have to drink in order to avoid alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the individual who is alcohol dependent, the students started to appreciate the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
To add a sense of closure to the subject, Miss Benning asked the pupils in her classroom to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol dependency rehabilitation?”
After about one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ answers. While many students thought that roughly 85 to 95 percent of people who are alcohol dependent would get alcohol addiction rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the students thought that this number would not be less than 70 percent.
The Pupils Were Shocked to Discover That Only 25% of Alcohol Addicted People in the United States Ask For Alcohol Rehabilitation
To the astonishment of most of the students, Miss Benning declared that according to various scientific studies, only 25% of the individuals who are alcohol dependent in the U.S. ask for alcohol addiction rehabilitation. This amazed most of the pupils because they figured that exposure to the shocking statistics and facts correlated with alcohol addiction would motivate the majority of the alcohol addicted people to obtain alcohol dependency treatment.
Miss Benning then stated that alcohol addicted people 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 alcohol dependent individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. To be sure, due to the fact that the need for alcohol is “reality” to the individual who is alcohol dependent, this is a challenging issue that is difficult to change.
A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating that the end of class had arrived. Based on the excitement manifested by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning knew that she had motivated and stimulated her pupils to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our country.