A Health Teacher in the Most Financially Challenged Co-Educational High School in the County Teaches Her Students About the Importance of Alcohol Dependency Signs

Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most underfinanced private high school in the region. Although she had been teaching for only four years, she had already acquired a reputation as a teacher with a teaching approach that motivated and encouraged the students in her class to think and to learn.

For example, one Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 she addressed the pupils in her class and articulated the following: “For the next two or three days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general perspective and we are also going to learn about some of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a less general and more detailed viewpoint.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will beyond doubt show that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcohol dependent person, but the more signs that an individual displays, the higher the probability that he or she is an individual who is alcohol dependent.”

Miss Benning then explained to the members of the class that each pupil would be responsible for investigating two alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her results to the other members in the class via a twenty-five minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Excited About Giving A Detailed Presentation to Their Fellow Pupils About The Signs of Alcohol Dependency

After learning about the diverse alcoholism signs for quite a few days, the time had come for the student presentations. It was instantly evident that the pupils were enthused about the subject because the material that they presented was first class. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm displayed by the pupils in her class concerning this topic 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 alcohol addiction signs that were presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked her students to study the list and rank the top nine alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After about ten minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and explained to her pupils that after she goes over the numbers, she will discuss her findings the next school day.

There was some real excitement by the students while they were exiting Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could find out the outcome of their in-class research.

The Pupils Match Their Answers Against the Results From A Board of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Professionals

When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcohol dependency signs according to the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she included another column that was labeled “correct answer.” She then told the pupils in her class that the numbers in the second column she added signified the conclusions that were put together by a board of chemical dependency specialists.

Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom to go over the information on the piece of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, issues, or questions. Within 30 or 40 seconds, almost everyone in the class raised her or his hand. It was apparent that the pupils had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the experts. As an illustration, just about every pupil had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the experts, namely, “Do you feel very ill when you quit drinking?”

The Chief Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction is the Physical Addiction That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then explained to the students in her class why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcoholism. She emphasized the fact that the principal difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol dependency and not with alcohol abuse.

Basically this means that when a person who is addicted to alcohol all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then informed the pupils 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 differently, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling a person who is addicted to alcohol that something is very misaligned and needs to be rectified. These signals consist of a number of uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to someone’s death if the proper treatment is not promptly received.

Miss Benning then went over the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an individual who is addicted to alcohol abruptly quits drinking.

The fact that Miss Benning tried to underline was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol addiction signs that the students had ranked, but the one symptom or sign that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To articulate this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning pointed out that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted people, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Pupils Feel They Have Found An Irregularity With the Findings From The Group of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Specialists

The pupils also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the substance abuse professionals, that is, “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 her students that this sign does not necessarily imply that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does emphasize the need that alcohol dependent individuals have to drink in order to avoid alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol addicted individual, the students started to recognize the key difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.

To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked her pupils 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 ask for alcohol treatment?”

After approximately three or four minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ predictions. While many students believed that roughly 80 to 90 percent of individuals who are alcohol dependent would obtain alcoholism treatment if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs, most of the students thought that this number would not be less than 65 percent.

The Students Were Surprised to Discover That Only 25% of People Who are Addicted to Alcohol in the U.S. Obtain Alcoholism Rehabilitation

To the surprise of most of the students, Miss Benning stated that according to various scientific examinations, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the United States obtain alcoholism rehab. This surprised most of the pupils because they reasoned that first hand experience of the gruesome facts and statistics linked to alcoholism would motivate the majority of the individuals who are alcohol dependent to obtain alcoholism rehab.

Miss Benning then explained that alcoholics not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also need alcohol everyday so they can avert possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than facts or logic. Certainly, since the need 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 buzz manifested by the students when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning knew that she had stimulated and inspired the students in her class to stop and think about a significant health and social problem that exists in our society.

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Tagged with: alcohol abuse • alcohol addiction • alcohol dependency • alcohol withdrawal symptoms • alcoholism • alcoholism facts • alcoholism signs • signs of alcoholism

Filed under: Alternative Medicine

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