Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most popular parochial high school in the local community. Although she had been teaching for only five years, she had already secured a reputation as an educator with instructional approaches that stimulated and encouraged students to think and to learn.
For example, one Wednesday morning at 9:30 she addressed the students in her class and announced the following: “For the next two or three days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general perspective and we are also going to learn about a number of the most familiar signs of alcoholism from a less general and more detailed point of view.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will without doubt validate that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcohol addicted person, but the more signs that a drinker displays, the more likely it is that he or she is a person who is addicted to alcohol.”
Miss Benning then told the class members that each student would be held responsible for investigating four alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the rest of the class via a five minute oral presentation.
The Students are Enthused About Giving A Detailed Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About Alcohol Addiction Signs
After learning about the diverse alcohol dependency signs for quite a few days, the time had arrived for the student presentations. It was instantly apparent that her students were wound up about the subject because the information that they presented was extraordinary. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm manifested by the students in her class concerning this topic was an understatement.
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 addiction signs that were presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked her students to study the list and rank the top ten alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After approximately ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and informed the pupils in her classroom that after she goes over the results, she will discuss 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 learn about the outcome of their in-class research.
The Pupils Match Their Answers Against the Results From A Board of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Authorities
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning gave 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 “experts’ answer.” She then explained to the students in her class that the numbers in the additional column she added signified the conclusions that were put together by a council of chemical dependency specialists.
Miss Benning told her students to look over the information she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 10 or 20 seconds, just about every student 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 person in the classroom had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, to be precise, “Do you feel exceptionally ill when you refrain from drinking?”
The Principal Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then told her pupils why this answer was the most accurate indicator of alcohol addiction. She stressed 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.
In essence this means that when an individual who is alcohol dependent suddenly stops drinking, he or she will go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then informed the students 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 messages from the body and from the brain telling an alcohol dependent person that something is exceedingly misaligned and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of a number of uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a loss of life if the appropriate treatment is not immediately undertaken.
Miss Benning then listed the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an individual who is addicted to alcohol suddenly stops drinking.
The point that Miss Benning tried to highlight was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol dependency signs that the students had ranked, but the one symptom or sign that few, if any, people who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To explain this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning underscored the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol dependent people, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they stop drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Feel They Have Discovered A Variance With the Findings From The Board of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Specialists
The students also some difficulty 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 explained to the students in her classroom that this sign does not necessarily imply that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underline the need that individuals who are alcohol dependent have to drink in order to prevent alcohol withdrawals.
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 appreciate the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked her students 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 dependency signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol treatment?”
After roughly one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ predictions. While many students reasoned that around 70 to 80 percent of people who are alcohol dependent would get alcoholism rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the pupils figured that this number would not be less than 55 percent.
The Pupils Were Amazed to Discover That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the United States Obtain Alcoholism Treatment
To the surprise of most of the students, Miss Benning mentioned that according to various scientific investigations, only 25% of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol in the U.S. get alcoholism rehabilitation. This astonished most of the pupils because they reasoned that first hand experience of the appalling statistics and facts associated with alcohol dependency would motivate most of the people who are alcohol dependent to ask for alcohol dependency rehab.
Miss Benning then stated that individuals who are addicted to alcohol not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol on an everyday basis so they can avoid possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol addicted individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. Certainly, due to the fact that the craving for alcohol is “reality” to the individual who is alcohol dependent, this is a thorny issue that is hard to overcome.
A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Based on the buzz displayed by the pupils when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning knew that she had motivated and stimulated the pupils in her class to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our society.
Technorati Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, alcoholism, alcoholism facts, alcoholism signs, signs of alcoholism