A Health Teacher in the Largest Parochial High School in the Local Community Teaches Her Students About the Significance of Alcohol Addiction Signs
Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged co-ed high school in the state. Even though she had been teaching for only two or three years, she had already gained a reputation as a teacher with instructional techniques that inspired and stimulated the pupils in her class to learn and to think.
For example, one Friday morning at 10:00 she addressed the pupils in her class and stated the following: “For the next few 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 best known signs of alcoholism from a less general and more explicit viewpoint.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will beyond doubt demonstrate that someone with a drinking problem is an alcoholic, but the more signs that a drinker displays, the stronger the probability that he or she is a person who is alcohol dependent.”
Miss Benning then told the class that each person would be accountable for studying two alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her results to the class via a thirty minute oral presentation.
The Students are Energized About Giving An In-Depth Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About Alcohol Dependency Signs
After learning about the different signs of alcohol dependency for a number of days, the time had come for the oral presentations. It was immediately clear to see that her pupils were thrilled about the topic because the information that they presented was first class. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the eagerness displayed by the pupils in her classroom regarding this subject could not be overstated.
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 dependency signs that were presented and discussed in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her pupils to study the list and rank the top ten alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After approximately twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told her pupils that after she goes over the results, she will discuss her findings the next school day.
There was a real buzz 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 results of their in-class research.
The Students Match Their Results Against the Assessments From A Council of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Authorities
When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning gave out a sheet of paper that listed the top three alcoholism signs according to the pupils’ rankings. Next to these results, she included another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then told the students in her classroom that the numbers in the additional column she added signified the conclusions that were stated by a group of chemical dependency specialists.
Miss Benning told the students in her class to look over the information on the piece of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, questions, or concerns. Within a minute or two, just about everyone in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was noticeable that the pupils had some issues, concerns, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the authorities. As an illustration, almost every person in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, namely, “Do you feel very sick when you quit drinking?”
The Essential 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 explained to the pupils in her class why this answer was the most unambiguous sign of alcoholism. She underscored the fact that the basic difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
In effect this means that when an individual who is alcohol dependent all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then told 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 differently, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling a person who is addicted to alcohol that something is exceedingly wrong and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of a number of dangerous, painful, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can possibly lead to a fatality if the appropriate treatment is not promptly received.
Miss Benning then listed the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an individual who is addicted to alcohol suddenly quits drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to emphasize 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 symptom or sign that few, if any, alcohol abusers ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To articulate this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning underscored the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, are not alcohol dependent and accordingly, when they quit drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Feel They Have Discovered An Abnormality With the Findings From The Council of Alcohol Dependency Authorities
The students also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol dependency authorities, namely, “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 informed the pupils in her classroom that this sign does not inevitably denote that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does point to the need that individuals who are addicted to alcohol have to drink in order to steer clear of alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is alcohol dependent, the students started to understand the key difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the students in her class to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every person who is addicted to alcohol knew about every one of the alcohol dependency signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcohol addiction treatment?”
After approximately three or four minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils figured that roughly 70 to 80 percent of people who are alcohol dependent would seek alcohol dependency rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs, most of the students figured that this number would not be less than 55 percent.
The Pupils Were Astonished to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the United States Obtain Alcohol Dependency Treatment
To the amazement of most of the pupils, Miss Benning acknowledged that according to various scientific examinations, only 25% of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol in the United States get alcohol addiction treatment. This surprised most of the pupils because they figured that first-hand knowledge of the gruesome facts and statistics linked to alcohol addiction would motivate the majority of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol to obtain alcohol addiction rehab.
Miss Benning then stated that individuals who are addicted to alcohol not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also need alcohol on an everyday basis so they can avoid possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcohol dependent individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than facts or logic. As a matter of fact, because the need for alcohol is “reality” to the individual who is alcohol dependent, this is very hard to counteract.
A few minutes later the bell rang, meaning that the end of class had arrived. Based on the excitement manifested by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning realized that she had inspired and encouraged her pupils to stop and think about a critical health and social problem that exists in our culture.