Miss Benning was a health teacher at the largest co-educational high school in the county. Although she had been teaching for only four years, she had already acquired a reputation as an educator with a teaching methodology that motivated and encouraged her students to think and to learn.

For instance, one Friday morning at 10:00 she addressed her students and announced the following: “For the next two weeks we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a general viewpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the most typical signs of alcoholism from a more specific perspective.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will without doubt demonstrate that someone with a drinking problem is an alcohol addicted person, but the more signs that an individual exhibits, the more likely it is that he or she is an alcohol dependent person.”

Miss Benning then explained to the members in the class that each student would be responsible for examining two alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her results to the rest of the class via a fifteen minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Energized About Giving A Detailed Presentation to Their Fellow Pupils About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction

After learning about the various signs of alcohol dependency for a number of days, the time had finally come for the individual presentations. It was at once clear to see that the pupils in her class were enthused about the topic because the material that they presented was exceptional. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm manifested by the pupils in her classroom concerning this subject could not be overstated.

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 presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. 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 roughly fifteen minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to her pupils that after she goes over the results, she will present her findings the next school day.

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

The Pupils Match Their Numbers Against the Assessments From A Council of Alcoholism Authorities

When the next school day finally arrived, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper that listed the top three alcohol dependency signs according to the students’ rankings. To the left of these results, she added another column that was labeled “correct answer.” She then explained to the pupils in her class that the numbers in the second column she added stood for the responses that were announced by a board of substance abuse professionals.

Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom to look over the numbers and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, concerns, or questions. Within 30 or 40 seconds, virtually every pupil in the class raised her or his hand. It was obvious that the students had some concerns, issues, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the experts. For instance, almost every student had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, specifically, “Do you feel really nauseous when you stop drinking?”

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

Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most clear-cut indicator of alcoholism. She underlined the fact that the central difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism is the physical addiction that is experienced with alcohol addiction and not with alcohol abuse.

Essentially this means that when an alcohol addicted individual all of a sudden quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then informed the pupils in her class that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the body and by the brain to the lack of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the brain and from the body telling an alcohol addicted person that something is extremely incorrect and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in a person’s death if the proper therapy is not immediately undertaken.

Miss Benning then discussed the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an individual who is addicted to alcohol suddenly quits drinking.

The fact that Miss Benning tried to underscore was this: a person who engages in alcohol abuse 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, people who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To state this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning emphasized the point that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, 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 A Dissimilarity With the Findings From The Board of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Specialists

The pupils also some difficulty with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction professionals, to be exact, “Have you ever had a drink the first thing in the morning to get rid of a hangover or to steady your nerves?”

Miss Benning explained to her pupils that this sign does not inevitably signify that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does point to the need that alcohol dependent people 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 understand the essential difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked her students to take out a sheet of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is addicted to alcohol 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 addiction rehab?”

After about five or six minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ predictions. While many students figured that approximately 85 to 95 percent of people who are alcohol dependent would obtain alcohol rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 70 percent.

The Pupils Were Amazed to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the United States Seek Alcohol Treatment

To the amazement of most of the students, Miss Benning confirmed that according to different scientific examinations, only 25% of the people who are addicted to alcohol in the U.S. obtain alcohol addiction rehab. This shocked most of the pupils because they reasoned that exposure to the dreadful facts and statistics associated with alcohol addiction would motivate the majority of the people who are addicted to alcohol to get alcohol addiction rehab.

Miss Benning then explained that alcoholics not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also need alcohol on an everyday basis so they can prevent possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Evidently, the alcohol dependent person’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than facts or logic. Indeed, because the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the alcohol addicted individual, this is hard to undo.

A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Based on the enthusiasm manifested by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning realized that she had motivated and stimulated her pupils to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our country.