Miss Benning was a health instructor at the most financially challenged private high school in the local community. Even though she had been teaching for only four years, she had already acquired a reputation as an educator with educational approaches that inspired and motivated her students to learn and to think.

As an illustration, one Tuesday afternoon she addressed her pupils and said the following: “For the next few days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general standpoint and we are also going to learn about several of the best known signs of alcoholism from a less general and explicit standpoint.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will positively demonstrate that an individual with a drinking problem is an individual who is addicted to alcohol, but the more signs that an individual displays, the greater the possibility that he or she is an alcoholic.”

Miss Benning then informed the class that each pupil would be responsible for investigating two alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her conclusions to the other members in the class via a thirty minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Energized About Giving A Thorough Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcoholism

After learning about the different signs of alcohol addiction for a number of days, the time had arrived for the individual presentations. It was at once noticeable that her students were wound up about the topic because the information that they presented was outstanding. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm displayed by the pupils in her classroom regarding this topic 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 alcoholism signs that were discussed and presented in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her class to study the list and rank the top nine alcoholism 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 tallies the results, she will discuss her findings the next school day.

There was some real anticipation 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 Results Against the Results From A Team of Chemical Dependency Authorities

When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper that listed the top five alcohol dependency signs according to the pupils’ rankings. Next to these results, she added another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then explained to her pupils that the numbers in the second column she added were the answers that were stated by a group of substance abuse specialists.

Miss Benning asked the students in her class to go over the information on the piece of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, questions, or concerns. Within a minute or two, virtually every pupil in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was noticeable that the students had some questions, concerns, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the authorities. As an illustration, just about every individual in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, that is, “Do you feel really sick when you refrain from drinking?”

The Foremost Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Addiction is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then told the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most clear-cut sign of alcohol dependency. She emphasized the fact that the principal difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.

Primarily this means that when a person who is alcohol dependent all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then explained to her students 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 more precisely, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the body and from the brain telling an alcohol dependent individual that something is dreadfully wrong and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of several painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a loss of life if the proper treatment is not immediately undertaken.

Miss Benning then listed the many different alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when a person who is addicted to alcohol suddenly stops drinking.

The fact that Miss Benning tried to stress was this: a person 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 explain this as plainly as possible, Miss Benning stressed the fact that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol addicted individuals, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they stop drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Believe They Have Uncovered A Contradiction With the Findings From The Council of Alcohol Dependency Specialists

The students also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction specialists, to be precise, “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 class that this sign does not automatically mean that the problem is alcohol addiction, but that it does underline the need that individuals who are alcohol dependent 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 individual who is alcohol dependent, the students started to appreciate the essential difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.

To add a sense of closure to the subject, Miss Benning asked her students to take out a piece of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is addicted to alcohol knew about every one of the alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would ask for alcohol dependency rehabilitation?”

After approximately two or three minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many students reasoned that about 80 to 90 percent of individuals who are addicted to alcohol would obtain alcohol dependency rehab 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 55 percent.

The Students Were Surprised to Learn That Only 25% of People Who are Alcohol Dependent in the U.S. Get Alcoholism Treatment

To the shock of most of the pupils, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to different scientific investigations, only 25% of the alcohol dependent people in the U.S. seek alcoholism rehab. This astonished most of the pupils because they reasoned that exposure to the appalling facts and statistics linked to alcohol dependency would motivate most of the individuals who are alcohol dependent to ask for alcoholism treatment.

Miss Benning then stated that alcoholics not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also require alcohol everyday so they can avert possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Obviously, the alcohol addicted individual’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. Certainly, since the craving for alcohol is “reality” to the individual who is addicted to alcohol, this is very hard to negate.

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