A Health Teacher in the Most Popular Private High School in the Region Instructs Her Students About the Significance of Alcohol Dependency Signs
Miss Benning was a health teacher at the largest parochial high school in the county. Even though she had been teaching for only a few years, she had already obtained a reputation as a teacher with instructional methods that stimulated and motivated pupils to think and to learn.
As an illustration, one Thursday morning at 10:30 she addressed the pupils in her classroom and announced the following: “For the next two weeks we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general standpoint and we are also going to learn about some of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a less general and more specific standpoint.
Not all of these alcoholism signs will positively establish that someone with a drinking problem is a person who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the stronger the probability that he or she is an alcohol dependent individual.”
Miss Benning then informed the the students that each student would be responsible for researching four alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her results to the other class members via a seven minute oral presentation.
The Students are Wound Up About Giving A Detailed Presentation to Their Fellow Students About The Signs of Alcoholism
After learning about the various signs of alcohol addiction for several days, the time had arrived for the oral presentations. It was instantly clear to see that the pupils were energized about the subject because the material that they presented was first class. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm manifested by the students in her classroom concerning this subject was an understatement.
The day after all of the students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper with a list of all the alcoholism signs that were discussed and presented in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked her pupils to go over the list and rank the top six alcohol dependency signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After about five minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to the pupils in her class that after she reviews the results, she will discuss 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 find out the outcome of their in-class research.
The Students Match Their Answers Against the Evaluations From A Panel of Chemical Dependency Specialists
When the next school day came, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper that listed the top four alcohol addiction signs according to the students’ rankings. To the left of these results, she included another column that was labeled “correct answer.” She then told her pupils that the numbers in the additional column she added signified the responses that were articulated by a panel of substance abuse specialists.
Miss Benning asked her students to go over the information on the sheet of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, questions, or concerns. Within 10 or 20 seconds, almost everyone in the class raised his or her hand. It was obvious that the students had some questions, concerns, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For example, just about every person in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the experts, to be exact, “Do you feel extremely sick when you quit drinking?”
The Principal Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then informed the pupils in her class why this answer was the most unambiguous indicator of alcoholism. She highlighted the fact that the essential difference between alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
In essence this means that when an alcoholic all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then told the students in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deprivation of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling a person who is alcohol dependent that something is dreadfully incorrect and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of a number of painful, dangerous, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a loss of life if the appropriate treatment is not promptly received.
Miss Benning then discussed the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when a person who is addicted to alcohol abruptly stops drinking.
The point that Miss Benning tried to underline was this: an individual 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, people who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To articulate this as exactly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted people, are not alcohol dependent and as a consequence, when they stop drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Feel They Have Discovered An Incongruity With the Findings From The Team of Alcohol Dependency Authorities
The students also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the alcoholism experts, that is to say, “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 pupils in her classroom that this sign does not necessarily mean that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does highlight the need that individuals who are addicted to alcohol have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
After Miss Benning explained the significance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol addicted individual, 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 individual who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcohol addiction signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol dependency rehabilitation?”
After roughly three or four minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ answers. While many students thought that roughly 70 to 80 percent of alcohol addicted people would obtain alcohol dependency treatment if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 60 percent.
The Pupils Were Shocked to Find Out That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Get Alcohol Addiction Treatment
To the shock of most of the students, Miss Benning stated that according to various scientific investigations, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the U.S. get alcoholism rehab. This amazed most of the students because they thought that first hand experience of the shocking facts and statistics related to alcohol dependency would motivate most of the individuals who are addicted to alcohol to seek alcohol treatment.
Miss Benning then stated that alcohol dependent people not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also need alcohol everyday so they can stay away from possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol addicted individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than logic or facts. Without a doubt, due to the fact that the craving for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol addicted individual, 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 excitement displayed by the students when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning recognized that she had encouraged and stimulated the students in her class to stop and think about a critical health and social problem that exists in our country.
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