A Health Instructor in the Most Popular Co-ed High School in the District Instructs Her Pupils About the Significance of Alcoholism Signs
Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged co-educational high school in the county. Even though she had been teaching for only one year, she had already obtained a reputation as a teacher with educational techniques that motivated and inspired her students to learn and to think.
For example, one Tuesday morning at 9:30 she addressed the students in her class and said the following: “For the next three or four days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more broad-based perspective and we are also going to learn about several of the most typical signs of alcoholism from a less general and more specific point of view.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will beyond doubt establish that a drinker with a drinking problem is a person who is alcohol dependent, but the more signs that an individual exhibits, the greater the likelihood that he or she is an alcohol addicted person.”
Miss Benning then informed the members of the class that each person would be accountable for examining two alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her findings to the other members in the class via a seven minute oral presentation.
The Students are Wound Up About Giving An In-Depth Presentation to Their Fellow Students About The Signs of Alcoholism
After learning about the various alcohol addiction signs for quite a few days, the time had arrived for the oral presentations. It was instantly apparent that the pupils in her class were excited about the subject because the information that they presented was superb. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the fervor 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 the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her pupils to go over the list and rank the top ten alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After roughly fifteen minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told the pupils in her classroom that after she studies the numbers, she will present her findings the next school day.
There was a real buzz by the pupils 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 Pupils Match Their Answers Against the Findings From A Council of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Authorities
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper that listed the top five alcohol addiction signs as per the students’ rankings. Next to these results, she added another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then explained to the students in her classroom that the numbers in the additional column she added stood for the responses that were generated by a board of alcohol addiction specialists.
Miss Benning told her students 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 everyone in the class raised her or his hand. It was evident that the students had some questions, issues, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the professionals. For instance, virtually every individual in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the experts, to be precise, “Do you feel extremely nauseous when you abstain from drinking?”
The Key Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then informed her students why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcoholism. She pointed out the fact that the most important difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol addiction and not with alcohol abuse.
Basically this means that when an individual who is addicted to alcohol suddenly quits drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her classroom 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 more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the brain and from the body telling a person who is addicted to alcohol that something is very incorrect and needs to be fixed. These signals consist of several painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to an individual’s death if the proper treatment is not promptly obtained.
Miss Benning then discussed the many different alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an alcohol dependent person abruptly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to emphasize was this: an individual who engages in alcohol abuse 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, people who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To articulate this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning stressed the point that alcohol abusers, unlike people who are addicted to alcohol, are not alcohol dependent and accordingly, when they quit drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Believe They Have Discovered An Irregularity With the Findings From The Group of Alcohol Addiction Specialists
The students also had a problem with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol addiction authorities, to be precise, “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 her students that this sign does not inevitably suggest that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underscore the need that people who are alcohol dependent have to drink in order to avoid alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol addicted individual, the pupils started to recognize the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, 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 an alcoholic 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 treatment?”
After roughly five or six minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ responses. While many pupils thought that approximately 75 to 85 percent of alcoholics would get alcohol rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the students reasoned that this number would not be less than 55 percent.
The Pupils Were Astonished to Discover That Only 25% of Alcoholics in the U.S. Ask For Alcohol Addiction Treatment
To the amazement of most of the students, Miss Benning acknowledged that according to different scientific examinations, only 25% of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol in the United States seek alcoholism rehabilitation. This amazed most of the pupils because they figured that first-hand knowledge of the abysmal facts and statistics related to alcohol dependency would motivate most of the people who are alcohol dependent to ask for alcohol addiction treatment.
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 require alcohol on a daily basis so they can prevent possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol dependent individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than facts or logic. Without a doubt, due to the fact that the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcoholic, this is a thorny issue that is hard to reverse.
A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating that the end of class had arrived. Based on the excitement manifested by the students when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning recognized that she had encouraged and motivated the pupils in her classroom to stop and think about an essential health and social problem that exists in our country.
Mail this post