Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most popular co-educational high school in the district. Although she had been teaching for only one year, she had already established a reputation as an educator with a teaching methodology that inspired and stimulated the pupils in her class to learn and to think.

For instance, one Wednesday morning she addressed her students and announced the following: “For the next three or four days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging viewpoint and we are also going to learn about several of the most typical signs of alcoholism from a more specific standpoint.

Not all of these alcoholism signs will without doubt validate that a drinker with a drinking problem is an individual who is alcohol dependent, but the more signs that a drinker displays, the greater the probability that he or she is an individual who is addicted to alcohol.”

Miss Benning then told the class that each student would be accountable for examining three alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her findings to the other members in the class via a six minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Excited About Giving A Thorough Presentation to Their Fellow Students About Alcohol Addiction Signs

After learning about the diverse alcohol dependency signs for quite a few days, the time had come for the individual presentations. It was at once evident that the pupils were thrilled about the topic because the material that they presented was excellent. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the excitement exhibited by her students regarding this subject matter 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 alcohol dependency signs that were discussed and presented in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the students in her class to go over the list and rank the top nine alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After around twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and told her students that after she studies the results, she will reveal 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 pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive so that they could learn about the outcome of their in-class research.

The Pupils Compare Their Results With the Results From A Panel of Chemical Dependency Authorities

When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper that listed the top three alcoholism signs as per the students’ rankings. To the right of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then explained to the pupils in her classroom that the numbers in the second column she added were the findings that were given by a council of alcohol dependency professionals.

Miss Benning asked the students in her class to look 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 20 or 30 seconds, just about everyone in the classroom raised her or his hand. It was evident that the pupils had some concerns, issues, or questions about their results versus the answers given by the experts. For example, almost every person in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, specifically, “Do you feel really sick when you stop drinking?”

The Most Important Difference Between Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcoholism and Not With Alcohol Abuse

Miss Benning then informed the students in her class why this answer was the most precise sign of alcohol dependency. She pointed out that the foremost difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcohol addiction and not with alcohol abuse.

For all intents and purposes this means that when an alcohol addicted person all of a sudden stops drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Miss Benning then explained to the students in her classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficit of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated more forcefully, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the body and from the brain telling an alcohol addicted person that something is dreadfully misaligned and needs to be fixed. These messages consist of a number of painful, dangerous, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in a person’s death if the appropriate therapy is not immediately obtained.

Miss Benning then went over the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcoholic abruptly quits drinking.

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

To explain this as clearly as possible, Miss Benning pointed out that alcohol abusers, unlike alcoholics, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they stop drinking, they almost never suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Think They Have Uncovered A Deviation With the Findings From The Panel of Substance Abuse Professionals

The pupils also disagreed with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol dependency authorities, namely, “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 told the pupils in her class that this sign does not inevitably mean that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underline the need that alcohol dependent people have to drink in order to keep away from alcohol withdrawals.

After Miss Benning explained the significance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcoholic, the students started to understand the fundamental difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.

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

After roughly four or five minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ answers. While many pupils figured that around 75 to 85 percent of alcohol addicted individuals would obtain alcohol addiction rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 55 percent.

The Pupils Were Shocked to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Addicted People in the U.S. Seek Alcohol Addiction Treatment

To the shock of most of the students, Miss Benning mentioned that according to various scientific studies, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the U.S. seek alcohol addiction rehabilitation. This astonished most of the pupils because they figured that first-hand knowledge of the abysmal statistics and facts correlated with alcohol dependency would motivate most of the individuals who are alcohol dependent to ask for alcohol dependency rehab.

Miss Benning then stated that people who are addicted to alcohol not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also require 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. Undeniably, since the desire for alcohol is “reality” to the individual who is addicted to alcohol, this is a challenging issue that is difficult to undo.

A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Based on the buzz displayed by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning knew that she had inspired and encouraged the pupils in her class to stop and think about a critical health and social problem that exists in our society.