Miss Benning was a health teacher at the largest private high school in the local community. Even though she had been teaching for only four years, she had already established a reputation as an educator with educational methods that inspired and stimulated the students in her class to learn and to think.

For instance, one Thursday afternoon at 2:00 she addressed the students in her class and said the following: “For the next four or five days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more broad-based viewpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the most highly researched signs of alcoholism from a less general and more specific viewpoint.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will without doubt confirm that an individual with a drinking problem is an individual who is alcohol dependent, but the more signs that an individual displays, the more likely it is that he or she is an alcoholic.”

Miss Benning then informed the the students that each student would be accountable for investigating two alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her findings to the other class members via a six minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Energized About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Students About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction

After learning about the various alcoholism signs for a number of days, the time had finally come for the individual presentations. It was instantly noticeable that the students were keyed up about the subject matter because the information that they presented was exceptional. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the passion exhibited by the students in her class regarding this topic 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 alcoholism signs that were presented and discussed in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her students to go over the list and rank the top seven alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcohol addiction. After about five minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to the students in her class 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 leaving 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 Contrast Their Numbers With the Findings From A Group of Chemical Dependency Authorities

When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning gave out a sheet of paper that listed the top five alcohol addiction signs as per the pupils’ rankings. Next to these results, she added another column that was labeled “correct answer.” She then told her pupils that the numbers in the new column she added represented the conclusions that were stated publicly by a panel of chemical dependency authorities.

Miss Benning asked her students to look over the data on the sheet of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, questions, or concerns. Within 10 or 20 seconds, just about every pupil in the classroom raised her or his hand. It was noticeable that the pupils had some issues, questions, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the experts. As an illustration, almost every person in the classroom disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the experts, specifically, “Do you feel unusually nauseous when you stop drinking?”

The Central Difference Between Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse 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 unambiguous indicator of alcoholism. She underlined 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.

Primarily this means that when an individual 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 classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deprivation of alcohol to which they had become acclimated. Stated more explicitly, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling an alcohol addicted individual that something is terribly wrong and needs to be fixed. These signals consist of several dangerous, painful, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in someone’s death if the appropriate therapy is not promptly undertaken.

Miss Benning then listed the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol addicted person suddenly stops drinking.

The fact that Miss Benning tried to emphasize 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 sign or symptom that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To explain this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike individuals who are alcohol dependent, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they quit drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Pupils Think They Have Uncovered An Abnormality With the Findings From The Team of Alcohol Addiction Experts

The students also had a problem with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction authorities, 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 informed the pupils in her class that this sign does not necessarily suggest that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does highlight the need that people who are addicted to alcohol have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcoholic, the pupils started to appreciate the major difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.

To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the students 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 withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependency signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcoholism rehab?”

After roughly one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils reasoned that approximately 85 to 95 percent of alcohol dependent people would obtain alcoholism 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 60 percent.

The Students Were Shocked to Learn That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Alcohol Dependent in the United States Ask For Alcoholism Rehabilitation

To the surprise of most of the students, Miss Benning stated that according to the research literature, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the U.S. get alcohol dependency rehab. This amazed most of the students because they reasoned that first-hand knowledge of the gruesome statistics and facts related to alcoholism would motivate the majority of the alcohol addicted individuals to get alcohol rehab.

Miss Benning then explained that alcohol addicted people not only need alcohol on an everyday basis in order to function but they also require alcohol on a daily basis so they can steer clear of possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol dependent individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. To be sure, due to the fact that the need for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol dependent person, this is a challenging issue that is hard to negate.

A few minutes later the bell rang, indicating that the end of class had arrived. Based on the enthusiasm displayed by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning realized that she had inspired and stimulated the pupils in her class to stop and think about a noteworthy health and social problem that exists in our country.