Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged parochial high school in the district. Even though she had been teaching for only four years, she had already gained a reputation as a person with a teaching methodology that encouraged and motivated students to learn and to think.

As an illustration, one Friday morning at 8:00 she addressed the students in her class and announced the following: “For the next few days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging point of view and we are also going to learn about some of the most typical signs of alcoholism from a less general and more specific point of view.”

“Not all of these alcoholism signs will positively show that someone with a drinking problem is an alcoholic, but the more signs that an individual displays, the stronger the possibility that he or she is an alcoholic.”

Miss Benning then informed the members in the class that each person would be accountable for studying two alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her results to the other class members via a nine minute oral presentation.

The Pupils are Excited About Giving A Broad-Based Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction

After learning about the various alcoholism signs for quite a few days, the time had arrived for the individual presentations. It was instantly evident that the pupils in her class were excited about the subject because the material that they presented was exceptional. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the eagerness manifested by the students in her class concerning this subject 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 addiction signs that were discussed and presented in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked her students to study the list and rank the top five alcohol dependency signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After around twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and told the pupils in her class that after she examines the numbers, she will reveal her findings the next school day.

There was some real anticipation by the students while they were walking out of Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could learn about the results of their in-class research.

The Students Contrast Their Results With the Findings From A Board of Alcoholism Professionals

When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning gave out a piece of paper that listed the top five alcoholism signs according to the students’ rankings. Next to these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ response.” She then informed the students in her class that the numbers in the extra column she added signified the findings that were stated by a group of drug and alcohol addiction authorities.

Miss Benning asked her pupils to look over the numbers and then to raise their hand if they had any concerns, questions, or issues. Within 40 or 50 seconds, virtually every student in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was clear to see that the pupils had some questions, issues, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the specialists. For instance, almost every pupil disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the professionals, that is, “Do you feel exceptionally sick when you refrain from drinking?”

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

Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most correct sign of alcohol addiction. She pointed out the fact that the main difference between alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.

Essentially this means that when an alcoholic suddenly quits drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

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

Miss Benning then discussed the host of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when a person who is addicted to alcohol abruptly quits drinking.

The fact that Miss Benning tried to underscore was this: an individual 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, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

To articulate this as precisely as possible, Miss Benning stressed the point that alcohol abusers, unlike people who are addicted to alcohol, are not alcohol dependent and accordingly, when they stop drinking, they almost never experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The Students Feel They Have Found A Dissimilarity With the Findings From The Panel of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Specialists

The pupils also had an issue with the second ranked answer given by the drug and alcohol addiction experts, to be precise, “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 informed the pupils in her class that this sign does not automatically indicate that the problem is alcohol dependency, but that it does point to the need that people who are addicted to alcohol have to drink in order to avoid alcohol withdrawals.

After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the individual who is alcohol dependent, the pupils started to understand the primary difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.

To add a sense of closure to the subject, 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 addiction signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcoholism rehab?”

After approximately four or five minutes, Miss Benning asked for the students’ predictions. While many students figured that around 85 to 95 percent of alcoholics would ask for alcohol addiction rehabilitation if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol addiction signs, most of the pupils thought that this number would not be less than 50 percent.

The Students Were Surprised to Learn That Only 25% of Alcohol Addicted Individuals in the U.S. Obtain Alcohol Rehabilitation

To the astonishment of most of the pupils, Miss Benning declared that according to the research literature, only 25% of the alcohol addicted people in the United States get alcohol treatment. This amazed most of the students because they believed that first hand experience of the abysmal statistics and facts associated with alcohol dependency would motivate the majority of the individuals who are alcohol dependent to seek alcoholism treatment.

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

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