Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged co-educational high school in the district. Although she had been teaching for only three years, she had already acquired a reputation as a person with educational methods that encouraged and motivated students to think and to learn.
As an illustration, one Wednesday afternoon she addressed the pupils in her classroom and said the following: “For the next four or five days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging standpoint and we are also going to learn about several of the most basic signs of alcoholism from a more specific standpoint.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will undeniably confirm that someone with a drinking problem is an alcohol addicted individual, but the more signs that a person exhibits, the higher the probability that he or she is a person who is alcohol dependent.”
Miss Benning then explained to the members of the class that each person would be accountable for studying two alcohol dependence signs and then presenting his or her results to the other class members via a eight minute oral presentation.
The Students are Wound Up About Giving An Extensive Presentation to Their Fellow Students About The Signs of Alcoholism
After learning about the diverse signs of alcohol dependency for several days, the time had arrived for the individual presentations. It was instantaneously noticeable that the students were excited about the subject matter because the information that they presented was excellent. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the interest exhibited by the pupils in her class regarding this subject matter 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 the pupils in her class to study the list and rank the top six alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After approximately twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told the pupils in her class that after she analyzes the numbers, she will present her findings the next school day.
There was a real buzz by the pupils while they were exiting Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive so that they could learn about the outcome of their in-class research.
The Students Contrast Their Numbers With the Results From A Group of Substance Abuse Experts
When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning gave out a piece of paper that listed the top four alcoholism signs as per the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then informed the students in her class that the numbers in the new column she added represented the answers that were generated by a group of drug and alcohol abuse professionals.
Miss Benning asked the pupils in her classroom to go over the data on the sheet of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, issues, or questions. Within 20 or 30 seconds, almost every student in the class raised his or her hand. It was obvious that the pupils had some questions, issues, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For instance, virtually every pupil had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, specifically, “Do you feel unusually ill when you quit drinking?”
The Main Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then told the students in her classroom why this answer was the most accurate sign of alcohol addiction. She stressed the fact that the principal difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
Basically this means that when a person who is addicted to alcohol suddenly stops drinking, he or she will suffer through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficit of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated more explicitly, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling an individual who is addicted to alcohol that something is very incorrect and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to someone’s death if the appropriate therapy is not promptly received.
Miss Benning then went over the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol addicted person suddenly quits drinking.
The point 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, alcohol abusers ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To articulate this as plainly as possible, Miss Benning underscored the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol dependent people, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they quit drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Feel They Have Found A Dissimilarity With the Findings From The Board of Substance Abuse Authorities
The pupils also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol addiction specialists, specifically, “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 told the pupils in her classroom that this sign does not necessarily indicate that the problem is alcohol dependency, but that it does highlight the need that alcohol dependent people have to drink in order to steer clear of alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the significance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol dependent person, the pupils started to comprehend the essential difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
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 person who is an alcoholic knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would seek alcohol addiction rehab?”
After about four or five minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils reasoned that around 75 to 85 percent of people who are addicted to alcohol would obtain alcohol rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol dependency signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the pupils reasoned that this number would not be less than 60 percent.
The Students Were Astonished to Find Out That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Obtain Alcoholism Rehab
To the surprise of most of the pupils, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to different scientific investigations, only 25% of the alcohol addicted people in the U.S. seek alcohol dependency rehab. This astonished most of the students because they believed that first-hand knowledge of the disgusting facts and statistics correlated with alcohol addiction would motivate most of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol to ask for alcoholism treatment.
Miss Benning then stated that individuals who are addicted to alcohol not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also require alcohol on a daily basis so they can stay away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Evidently, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than facts or logic. Indeed, since the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcoholic, this is a thorny issue that is hard to counteract.
A few minutes later the bell rang, meaning that the end of class had arrived. Based on the excitement displayed by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning recognized that she had stimulated and motivated the pupils in her classroom to stop and think about a significant health and social problem that exists in our society.
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