A Health Teacher in the Best Known Parochial High School in the District Teaches Her Students About the Relevance of Alcohol Addiction Signs
Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged parochial high school in the county. Although she had been teaching for only a few years, she had already gained a reputation as an instructor with teaching methods that inspired and stimulated her pupils to think and to learn.
As an illustration, one Thursday morning at 9:00 she addressed the pupils in her classroom and announced the following: “For the next week we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general point of view and we are also going to learn about several of the most common signs of alcoholism from a less general and more explicit viewpoint.
Not all of these alcoholism signs will without doubt demonstrate that someone with a drinking problem is an individual who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that a drinker manifests, the stronger the probability that he or she is an individual who is alcohol dependent.”
Miss Benning then explained to the members in the class that each person would be held responsible for examining two alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her results to the other class members via a twenty-five minute oral presentation.
The Students are Keyed Up About Giving An In-Depth Presentation to Their Fellow Students About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction
After learning about the various signs of alcohol addiction for several days, the time had finally come for the oral presentations. It was at once clear to see that her students were energized about the subject because the material that they presented was outstanding. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm manifested by the pupils in her class regarding this subject was an understatement.
The day after all of the pupils completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol addiction 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 ten alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After about twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and told her pupils that after she studies the results, she will present her findings the next school day.
There was some real excitement by the pupils while they were walking out of 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 Compare Their Answers With the Assessments From A Team of Alcohol Dependency Experts
When the next school day came, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcohol addiction signs as per the pupils’ rankings. Next to these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then informed the pupils in her classroom that the numbers in the new column she added stood for the answers that were stated by a group of alcoholism professionals.
Miss Benning asked her pupils to go over the information on the sheet of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 30 or 40 seconds, almost every student in the class raised her or his hand. It was evident that the students had some issues, concerns, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the authorities. For example, just about every individual in the class had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, specifically, “Do you feel exceptionally sick when you quit drinking?”
The Most Important Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then informed the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most correct indicator of alcohol addiction. She stressed the fact that the principal difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.
Fundamentally this means that when a person who is addicted to alcohol abruptly quits drinking, he or she will experience 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 another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling an individual who is addicted to alcohol that something is dreadfully wrong and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of several painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in an individual’s death if the appropriate therapy is not immediately received.
Miss Benning then went over the multitude of 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 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 overtly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol dependent individuals, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Pupils Think They Have Discovered A Contradiction With the Findings From The Council of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Specialists
The students also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the alcoholism professionals, namely, “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 explained to the students in her class that this sign does not automatically denote that the problem is alcohol dependency, but that it does emphasize the need that individuals who are alcohol dependent 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 addicted person, the pupils started to understand the primary 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 addicted to alcohol knew about every one of the alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcoholism rehabilitation?”
After about one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ answers. While many students believed that roughly 85 to 95 percent of individuals who are addicted to alcohol 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 Students Were Astonished to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent Individuals in the U.S. Seek Alcohol Addiction Rehab
To the amazement of most of the students, Miss Benning declared that according to different scientific studies, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the U.S. seek alcohol addiction rehabilitation. This amazed most of the students because they believed that first hand experience of the devastating facts and statistics linked to alcohol dependency would motivate most of the alcohol addicted individuals to get alcoholism treatment.
Miss Benning then stated that alcohol addicted individuals not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also need alcohol on a daily basis so they can steer clear of possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol addicted person’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. To be sure, because the craving for alcohol is “reality” to the person who is alcohol dependent, this is a challenging issue that is difficult to undo.
A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating the end of the class. Based on the excitement exhibited by the pupils when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning knew that she had inspired and motivated the pupils in her classroom to stop and think about an essential health and social problem that exists in our country.